lnq🧑🏿: libretto

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Crowdsourcing resources to kickstart a distributed supercomputer for computational chemistry.
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This is a versioned (continuously updated) proof providing computational insight into biochemical* pathologies supporting the entire cell signaling pipeline and its systems. The belief is that a comprehensive solution to the so-called protein folding problem is crucial to proteomics - inferring a major medical⚕️ frontier. We are using artificial intelligence (ai) and innovative cinematography for our data gathering+processing in an openscience initiative.

..Also around this time, the Michael J. Fox🦊 Foundation - which specializes in Parkinson's disease research - issued a public prize for the radiotracing of alpha-synuclein. My solution to that problem, if accepted, utilizes computational chemistry on a scale of supercomputing. I devised for this to be done over a distributed network of mobile phones📱. The plan is to use the idle processors on said devices to form a distributed supercomputer (the world's largest) to compute - among other things - molecular holograms. It will run at least at exaFLOP scale, thereby mimicking the processing power of the human brain🧠, which is ideal for studying neuroproteomics. The computer + tools should then be available for openscience.

Pascha

Frank Sinatra as Joe Leland, Bruce Willis as John McClane [Courtesy 20th Century Studios, for reference only. No IP infringement intended.]

The following section contains a galley proof of Easter. It is storyboarded in parts for simplification. Scripts and libretto are FREELY provided for production purposes.

-- Easter is a 5-part (4 chords + 1 ritornello) prompt-augmented reality experience (PARE) that serves as an epilogue to The Detective novels from Roderick Thorp, on which it is loosely based. It was originally created by 🧑🏿lnq to viralize juking. --

Foreground notes// Disney acquired Fox Studios in 2019, and then proceeded to cancel^[c][d] its long-gestating 'Die Hard 6' (or the seventh installment of The Detective franchise), thus forfeiting the series' proper conclusion, per Bruce Willis (a dedicatee💐 of this project).^[m] That move was frowned upon by fans^[f], and opened the market to a possible reimagining via independent/third-party new/emerging media (categorized under 'prompting and augmented reality (AR), not 'film'), which is what this is. Copyright violation was circumvented by transforming that work (which, in fact, was published prior to January 1, 1978, thus murkily rendering infringement non-statutory) in addition to having it attached to science research and scholarship (ie. fair use)^[j]. Also, this endeavor - a startup - is not commercialized (ie. no box office), further muting the threat of economic competition. That said, Easter truly is its own thing.

Rumors swirled of a production in-progress dating back to 2015 (perhaps even before then)^[i] by those who had been previously involved. The pre-production was lost but supposedly would have Mr. Willis on-board in a conclusive piece that told the Pascha (= Joe Leland/John McClane) character's entire arc in separate timelines.^[t] Easter serves as my answer to those 'lost' pre-productions. Its story revolves around a detective who is in the advanced stages of Parkinson's; mobile cinematography may be best-suited to capture what it is like to live with motor dysfunction, giving the audience a first-person perspective into the struggle of coping with the disease. The Willis camp was made aware of this idea back around the same time he himself began having noticeable symptoms of 🧠brain disorders, to his endorsement.

Video provided courtesy of Entertainment Tonight.

On August 3, 2017 my draft of Easter went up (it's fantastic, btw). The work is lengthy (think of each chord as a 'season'), being hashed out (like a '🧼soap opera') for full streaming (recommended ages 9+), and research-appropriate. It is released over the internet/mobile for maximal viewership.👌 As freemiumware, we present this webisodically (ie. chapter-by-chapter intermediaries across multiple webpages) because its development is dependent on / dictated by audience engagement which determines the {financially responsible!} budget through its final cut; the crowd must show how important it is to them with site traffic. Let me emphasize that this is not a typical 'fan-made' project, per se, but since there was no movement on the corporate-side to the chagrin/angst of fans, I took matters into my own hands on behalf of the fans who desperately wanted the story to continue. (Yeah, I did it. What?!)

For those wondering about Bruce Willis' involvement since his diagnosis^[r][f], there are contingency plans in place, such as instead relying on ventriloquy (1st person) and cinematographic tricks (3rd person) to relay the star's likeness. Admittedly, I could have just found someone else to play the part (who obviously won't feature in the 1978 backstory), but out of respect for what he's done for the character, fans like myself would be disappointed if not confused if we couldn't at least hear Bruce's voice (we've got you covered) in curtain calling his iconic role in style. Mr. Willis said he preferred to send-off Pascha in longform, and personally wanted to star in a 🪖war picture of his own at some point in his career. Both of those requests are granted here (sidenote: as a byproduct - with 1st Lt., Inf. Robin Poole - I co-authored a number of academic papers on military strategy related to urban guerilla combat specifically for this piece). Besides, the story + complementary cast are strong enough to carry themselves; much of the script lends itself to improvisation, so they should just be able to slip right into character as if by rote. Ironically, Pascha plays in the background since he far from the sole focus, per se, he is just a touchstone in the thin of the plot as we get to see his day-to-day lifestyle in relation to the rest of what is happening around him in realtime (2nd person). Coincidentally, this is similar to the situation Frank Sinatra found himself in before he declined to reprise Leland, paving the way for Bruce's rendition. My way of doing things does justice to the writing style of Thorp's texts while honoring both superstars.

Technology-wise, mobile works to our advantage because that is how we will consume prompts and assets of the interactive picture. Obviously, AR can only be streamed OTT, and is computationally expensive on the backend, so we may utilize an off-the-shelf AR API🤖 where permissible. To experience this in all of its glory, you will need:
- web browser
- smartphone (Android 8+, iOS) with camera lens, gyroscope, and sufficient data plan

Easter soap opera QR code

Easter will be streamed right here at this address [permalink: 🔒https://easter.uuelco.me], fashioned as a nickelodeon. It will not be streamed anywhere else. Though not a videogame, Easter contains gamification elements reminiscent of a MUD where you can interact with the media; complementing its prompts is side paneling, a map overlay, and decision trees. These innovations are necessary to move the viewer along in a technique I'm calling 'horizontal storytelling'. Easter is rated TV-MA for strong language, nudity+copulation, graphic violence, and disturbing imagery.

In Q2 2023 we kick things off with Day 0 (a prologue), which Ric Flair agreed to help me with. Then, the first part of the main storyline is planned to hit airwaves Eastertide 2023. Because I'm an egotistical sumbetch, my prediction is that Easter will be the biggest show of the year. If nothing else, it will push prompt cinematography forward.

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DISCLAIMER 1: This story is one of a very dark tone. The drama presented here is based on ideologies of yesteryear, and rooted in Civil Rights era(s) in the United States of America. As such, it is replete with revisional ethnographies, insinuations of gender and/or racial oppression (whether they be real or implied), manifestos of violence, and expressions that question established religion/politics. In short, Easter may be extremely offensive, but this is not deliberate; it is possibly due to misinformation. Contemporary aspects draw on real historical events which in turn have been woven into a story largely sourced from the books 'The Detective' (Thorp, 1966), 'Nothing Lasts Forever' (Thorp, 1979), and 'Die Nigger Die!' (Brown, 1969), whose subjects matter were highly controversial. Although certain parts are presented as historical fiction, this is not a documentary and doesn't attempt to portray events with total accuracy. We offer apologies ahead of time. Remember, it's just entertainment, folks! Enjoy :)
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DISCLAIMER 2: If you become infuriated with or disoriented by the pacing of this picture, just know that it is of intentional design. We want you to experience second-hand what it would be like to suffer through neurodegenerative disorders that severely affect mental and physical health. Likewise, an artificial claustrophobia (via VR) coupled with social triggers were devised specifically for the audience to feel like the world is coming to an abrupt end. This is done with the purpose of drawing awareness to 🧠brain conditions in hopes of furthering research and medical aid.

Old habits...

Neo-noir moving picture adaptations of detective🕵️ novels - starting with various eponymous entries as a source of inspiration/speculation - will be independently (meaning that this work is not produced by, cooperating with, or reliant on a major studio, not necessarily in the sense that it is an 'art house' flick) succeeded* here.** Infringement nullified per fair usage (via transformation = opera) of Section 1 of the 1976 Act.

Their literary motifs of tumult, claustrum, revenge, paranoia, and distress are further incorporated into this tragedy - my honest attempt to interpret the biblical Books of Genesis and Revelation, albeit in a medium that addresses the needs of our dramaturgy. As such, the central character is atavistically brought back to his roots; carefully avoiding the regular-turned-superheroic trend that has been critically panned^[t] in recent productions.

The storyline follows an ordinary man of law enforcement (here his name is "Pascha", which is being used as a generic substitute nomen for Joseph/John) who continually rises to the occasion when he finds himself in precarious situations/circumstances where he becomes the focal point for warding-off potentially grave threats where the stakes are raised throughout the progression, racking up considerable property damage and getting his clothes filthy in the process.

Easter is an opera told over four chords interspersed with a ritornello commencing in gritty 1978 Brandywine. In the backdrop of geopolitics, its parallel dramas are rooted in concurrent timelines, and follows Pascha ("Pash") as he begins his fateful series of misfortunate events that have both tagged+shaped him in the present-day. He has every intention of living out the remainder of his life quietly in Elsewhere, but there are other karmic factors/obligations that must be cleared first.

The underlying theme here is that loops in Life are purposed to resolve debt(s) at the cost of Death (in other words, people are supposed to put themselves in a position to help, and then help those less fortunate). For even religion predicts the end of itself; all signs point to a sacrificial pawn as the inflective change agent.

Who killed Pascha?

..An elegiac send-off for the character was requested^[r], paying attention to his age/health. In that regard, this piece's content relies heavily on forensics where it is devoid of stunts. Still (for fans of the genre), how utter chaos devolves from Helter Skelter compensates for delayed action.

My offering considers all the prior rough-and-tumble that he has been through - and while structurally embracing said suggestions - envisioning he would, today, tenably be suffering from serious deterioration attributed largely to Parkinson's disease (medically, α-synuclein plays integral parts in PD development and regulating dopamine), probably a diabetic factor resulting from his lifestyle choices of heavy alcohol+tobacco consumption.

Figuring that his cognitive faculties are in noticeable decline due to 🧠brain disorders, we duly challenge our determined detective quondam to find a treatment (Lewy body therapy or cure) for his ailments and reconcile who he is (hint: one of the meanings behind the title, Easter, is 'regeneration').

This 🧼opera gives an intense purview of the human spirit, touching on the finer points of mental, physical, and emotional illness. In it, Pascha's troubled past has finally caught up with him, and our tragic hero finds himself at his nadir needing all the help he can get (because he is lifecasting throughout, he consistently breaks the fourth wall).

Given that the stakes are incredibly high here, his task is to find clues scattered about which hint at solving a larger biochemistry puzzle🧩: a vaccine for halting the spread of a latent contagion (virus) contaminating the microbiome.

He is not alone; in Easter the viewer experiences things from Pascha's first-person perspective, with the interface - "Stu(art)" - serving as his (medical⚕️) companion in role-playing collaboration. This is accomplished by using a MUD*; having graduated from the silver screen, we bring storytelling into the modern era with another eye on the future of interactive media.** Multi-user domain

The era of streaming is a-go, the world is mobile, people are social, and gaming+ai have become much more convenient than traditional cinema. That lets us augment reality to our innovation, which we will do with great effect.

Truespace technology is central to decision-making here and becomes part of the stream, affecting how the story advances, and ultimately the outcome itself. And, yes, Easter still has its share of those do-or-die hard scenarios we all know and love.
~~ Throughout the dramas, detectives more often than not have had different partners/personal assistance in their episodes. This time that role is played by the audience.

other franchises with similar themes

The Detective: The first screen adaptation of Roderick Thorp's novel with the same name. Some things were changed in the flick, like his age (he's considerably older .. as opposed to the sequels, in which he was arguably more in-line with the original literature, where "Leland is thirty-six, five feet ten, and weighed one-hundred and forty pounds. His hair was dark brown, thick and cut short.".), occupation (he's a cop), and location (Port Smith became New York City). It was released May 28, 1968 to critical acclaim and box office success. [watch movie🎬]

Call of Duty: One of the highest-grossing franchises ever, and holder of the Guinness World Record for best-selling first-person shooter video games. CoD takes players across warzones to battle enemies in modern styles of tactical warfare. [watch advertisement🎬]

The Godfather: A cross-cultural iconography that offers a masterclass in character acting+development. The saga follows the rise to power of a Sicilian/Sicilian-American mafioso, delving into the world of gangster crime and so-called 'family business'. Mario Puzo's masterpiece is widely credited as having normalized American audiences to organized crime allusions. The movie and its companion piece, The Godfather Part II^[g], went on to win numerous Academy Awards, and for a time, the first one was the highest-grossing film ever made. If you haven't seen it/them before, I feel sorry for you, I really do.😥 [watch movie🎬]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nh0c_GvA3fM

Outage: A long-form advertisement from IBM that takes the viewer through a plausible scenario involving a plant worker that must make tough, time-sensitive decisions that affect product delivery (ie. power over an electrical grid). The film is a bundle of interactive segments triggered from in-screen actions taken by the viewer, which, depending on the selection, yield a different outcome. [watch trailer🎬]

Platoon: The classic American film based on a screenplay by director Oliver Stone about his time in the infantry while serving during the Vietnam War. This picture follows a small platoon of soldiers on a ground assignment as they fight their enemies and each other. The film went on to win Academy Awards (1986) for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Sound Mixing, and Best Film Editing. [watch trailer footage🎬]

Minecraft Earth: A growth pack for the original Minecraft video game that takes sandbox gameplay from the home console to the outdoors and beyond with augmented reality using a mobile device. Players can build and then share those creations for other people to discover, experience, and even further modify if they so choose. [watch trailer footage🎬]

John Wick (franchise): About a retired hitman forced to deal with adversaries who have stolen his property and disrupted his pursuit of a calm lifestyle. As the chapters progress, he is brought back into the world of underground contract killing. The films are very high-octane, and play like a first-person shooter video game as viewed by the audience in second-person. [watch trailer footage🎬]

Power: Set in present-day New York City, the drama follows James Saint Patrick as he simultaneously masquerades as a drug lord and night club owner. As both the protagonist and antagonist of the show, he must balance volatile elements of his personal life that include a longtime friendship, a supportive wife and family in addition to his mistress, and a menacing past that threatens to topple all of it. To date, the show's second season has been lauded as its most successful, garnering a 'fresh' 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes (.com). [watch trailer footage🎬]

The Wire: A crime drama series (five seasons, sixty episodes) set in Baltimore, Maryland that explores the relationships intertwining law enforcement, illicit+illegal drug activity, city government and its bureaucracy, as well as print news media. Since its syndication, it has been hailed by fans and critics as one of the greatest television shows of all-time. [watch trailer footage🎬]

leitmotif

Parkinson's underlies the tragedy of our eponym's neurological disorders.

subject

Officer Pascha may be terminally ill
A hero to many, OR-5/PO3 Pascha is sadly now sick with Parkinson's disease and in (for) the fight of his life.

For the past forty-plus (40+) years, Pascha has put himself out there in the line of duty and saved many lives. Now he needs your help. We're not sure how much time he has left, but this doesn't look good.

On a positive note, an artificial intelligence is being developed to find a cure or therapies for Parkinson's and similar pathologies.

We'll keep all those who are afflicted in our prayers🙏. #BlueLivesMatter #CheersToVeterans

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Our goal is huge: piece together scattered bits of information teasing a potential cure for neurodysfunction that is being held hostage in a militarized zone by the infamously mysterious 'SAINT BERNARD'.~~ (ie. bring things full circle by bookending the entire arc -- chords N and H). We have been warned that a few major figures are masquerading as upstanding citizens, but can see for ourselves that corruption is a local effect of relational dialects. Immediate societal turmoil and systemic pollution are symptoms of our absence and/or failure here. Remember that people are resources; taken by themselves, alliances may be more valuable than friendships or even family.

snippets

- Pascha (Joseph/John) returns home in this saga-concluding tragedy
- the tale resumes with Pascha (+all accustomed problems in tow) having moved from Elsewhere to Brandywine [now volunteering (his mandate for VA medical benefits) with the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary]
- Pascha is of advanced age, diseased (alcoholism, Parkinson's, diabetes), and retired
- Pascha serves as a volunteer mentor to (Bunny)
- female coloratura (Maundy)
- with an overlapping prelude (168 hours) and postlude (168 hours), the pacing of Easter spans approximately 336 hours⏲️ in realtime
- this is classified as a mystery (not as an 'action flick') dipped in biological warfare that features a large-scale ethnic conflict stemming from modern-day issues of oppressive police brutality, rise of ideological pluralities, etc.
- after going rogue, getting arrested, breaking out of jail and becoming a fugitive, Pascha situationally finds himself as the last responder amidst chaos where he must use his considerable detective skills and 🪖military background to piece together clues in a game of survival
- Pascha re-teams with Alven (reprised deuteragonist) for stretches
- takes place during a panic-induced Eastertide (from Palm Sunday through Pentecost)
- the overall story jumps back-and-forth between Philadelphia and Silver Bow County, Montana, giving the opera a somewhat country-western vibe to it
- billions [10⁹⁺] in casualties💀⚰️ as a result of Armageddon, including major franchise characters
- some guy named Gruber
- we get an in-depth look at the antagonist'/protagonist' backstory (especially military and early career+marriage tidbits) from stitching together flashbacks. >> In doing so, we learn how "Joe" became "John", and, thus, are left with a proffered ritornello (Die, Detective! [the year 1978])
- a dark, mean, gritty, layered, mature, incredibly deep, grounded, kinetic, and considerably realistic prose in the vein of hood culture told with urban spatial logic
- because of inherent scaling, the cinematic style is staged telepresently (ie. first-person openworld) in VR

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plot outline

(Eastertide {March 26 - December 31}, 1978 ["Die, Detective"]) - A young man (Pascha) from Elsewhere moves to Brandywine to join the United States Coast Guard. He forms a quick and lasting friendship with his military pal, Alven, and the two have ambitions of being entertainers as a side hustle with their vaudeville troupe 'Bruno'.

Final auditions at the famed Temple Theater are taking place before its shuttering, which happens to coincide with both the intra-city riot instigated by the aftermath of aggression towards the GO outfit, as well as a spree of mysterious abductions under someone profiled as "Colin" that began earlier in the Summer.

GO's leader, Aegypt, has been branded as Public Enemy #1, even though his version of Black empowerment is virtually harmless and would actually be beneficial to the community at-large. Alven's young wife is now torn between loyalties to her husband's ambition with 'Bruno' and her own ambition within GO, thereby creating a costly drama. Local law enforcement is strained under new district attorney Ember Libitina because of an obsession with Aegypt; her 'tough on crime' stance is a long-term gamble. Mayor Luigi - for whom Pascha works as a double agent private eye - mobilizes the police force whose brutality further disturbs the peace, causing portions of the City to erupt into full-swing self-destruction.

On the brink of stamping a ticket to a new career, Pascha and Alven get caught in the middle of figurative and literal crossfire. The future can only accept one of them after this storm calms down, and they each know this. Their friendship will be tested as Pascha comes in radio contact with a bizarre figure who offers information that aids in solving 'cold cases of yesteryear'.

Secret governmental plans are in motion to probe 'Wormwood' - a recently discovered celestial object orbiting planet Neptune. The implications of said event provide an enormous opportunity for technological advancement, but for whom? In the meantime, a major industrial player from Old Dominion by the name of Maundy Lindros lurks around the city council, flaunting her money and changing Brandywine's political landscape with her bribes. All of this is being documented for personal gain by the novelist Junior Mayne in his to be soon-to-be released exploitative books.//

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(Lent, present-day ["Chords N-O-A-H"]) - The United States is entering a recession amidst a global pandemic😷 as Congress teeters with unsolicited countermeasures against the volatile Eastern Bloc, threatening world war. House Speaker Henza Turtl is pressuring Lindros to modify the company's payloads in Favre, Mississippi to accommodate an anticipated wave of asylum seekers there, underhanding a batch of new legislation on Capital Hill that can have serious repercussions. Back in the North Atlantic, Maundy's personal bet on 'Meroë' has paid dividends, but the maturity of the compromise came with a clash of social residuals that even she didn't anticipate.

Suffering from massive hallucinations (including visions of the 👻ghost of his eight-years-dead ex-wife haunting him) which have left him as his own worst enemy, old man Pascha reluctantly returns to Brandywine to receive hospice care for his neurodegenerative diseases. His past heroics don't go unnoticed as his fame precedes him.

Having reverted to his role of private investigator, the deal is that he volunteer with the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary (CGAPD) in exchange for both treatment/therapy and record expungement, while reporting directly to mayor Ember Libitina. He is assigned a partner, Bunny, who is revealing herself to be trouble. Together, their job is to help rein in Theo, Delaware Valley's kingpin.

Pascha really wants to spend more time with his daughter during the holiday before his official retirement at the end of Holy Week, but Lily's busy schedule leaves little room for much else besides managing her business pod (herself, Gunyo Gruber, Earl Ellis), and she prefers it that way.

Meanwhile, Mr. Alphabet - the world's richest person - has pledged considerable re-investment into Brandywine (the country's most impoverished big city) in the form of a tournament for artificial intelligence development, causing tribes to scramble for a piece of the sweepstakes. Adding to the chaos, a recent string of drug-related murders in Irish Charm has the authorities on-edge due to a slick+nasty serial killer. Because of Pascha's reputation, an incident of police brutality in a different section of town is pinned on our detective that sends the Black demographic of the City spinning, and people are calling for his apprehension. Pascha is later arrested. Unsatisfied, the People begin to take things into their own hands, and 'Helter Skelter' breaks out in the midst of this already tough election climate.

Pascha is bailed out of jail by his longtime buddy and now caretaker/guardian, Alven, only to become a fugitive subjected to a manhunt. Led by Egg, the 'Four Horsemen' have made it their sole objective to exact revenge on him. Put in survival-mode, he must rely on his latent military skills to navigate an intense battlefield that is civil war-torn Brandywine, which itself is cocooned inside an escalating Armageddon thanks partly to his own ego. Stalking is Dominique, whom Pascha can no longer avoid, and whose calls of street justice for what was done to him when they were young men now demand a final answer. Ironically, when he needs to be the most, he is perhaps at the least selfish point in his life; careless of what happens to himself, Pascha desperately wonders if he can repair his broken relationships before it is too late? For his last bit of luck is a currency that must be spent.//

cinematic quotient

Jump to: narrative | libretto

'Joe vs. John'*

In its four-chord arc~, the mental illness of our sleuth, Pascha, pits him against his most formidable foe - himself.** tagline ~~ Easter arc: ChordN → ChordO → ChordA → ChordH

eggs, storyline

These so-called 'Easter eggs🥚' are cinematic cutscenes/clips (ie. external interruptions for action and dialogue) which comprise our extended play. Because the story is told via PP with the only goal being to bookend chords N and H, the eggs are issued as 2D in-opera reference points.

/// +The idea here is that the detective's infliction with Parkinson's disease is a research clef.
+The dramaturgy of Easter has Pascha (Joseph/John) policing a synthetic storyline set in a hyper-modern world.
In bringing this gaiden to requiem (ie. concluding entire arc), I propose a few things, two (2) of which are: the exploration of a backstory for the sake of character study, and the introduction of substantive dramatic elements. Logic dictates that, if either of those things is missing from a closure🔒 piece like this, an opportunity to tie up loose ends in the narrative would have been forfeited.

His name is 'Pascha', but he often goes by the simple first names of 'Joseph' or 'John'. They are the same person but different people. The names come from traditional figures in the first and last books of the Holy Bible, Genesis (Joseph) and Revelation (John). The insertion of the naming scheme was my doing, thus giving him a backdrop that may have otherwise been absent in my invented canon. Linguistically, 'Pascha' is the Greek equivalent of/to 'Easter'. I also gave him a birthdate of April 10, 1955 (an Easter Sunday), under the sign of Aries♈️ (hence his characteristic impulsiveness^[b1][b2][b3], and natural inclination to help others). Now we have a point of reference as to why the opera is so titled.
We offer some clues about Pascha's military career and delved into his personal relationships.

-- In Easter, Pascha was never a cop (ie. an officer on the force within a police department); immediately after high school graduation, he contracted as a self-employed private eye before his tenure with the United States Coast Guard. --

The drama delicately navigates around the detective's issues he has with both his wife (Palm who was an infidel and went on to leave him) and later daughter (Lily with whom he had a strained relationship).

When we first bud the romance via flashback, Palm is a hypergamous and promiscuous thirty-two (32) year-old single 'boss babe' bitch originally from Providence being courted by an even (9 years) younger Pascha. As a couple, they are on the cusp of wedding, but Pascha needs more convincing, as he is very early into his career in a new city (Big Apple). She demands the commitment a traditional band💍 represents so that any of her future offspring won't be also-out-of-wedlock bastards, as to maintain her Ecclesia Catholica covenant. I think that the difference in age between the two forces her to pressure Pascha into doing something he is not wholeheartedly interested in at the moment, and this (her 'mothering') is a source of resentment on his part.

~~ The following content contains tropes that may be considered offensive to some. Please proceed with caution and thick skin.
In the opera we have an overarching plot with a lot of smaller substories. And in those substories are front-facing characters with tie-ins to real-world happenings. Basically, what this amounts to is me trying to say that I couldn't tell the story of Easter without a ritornello.

credit: Michael Tompsett

ritornello

What may be confusing to some people is that the overture [Die, Detective!] in itself functions as a backstory (sort of like a roman à clef), deliberately interspersed with the four (4) chords (you'll see). It features a number of times where the protagonist/antagonist must revisit his past in order (for the audience) to piece together present-day clues. Take, for instance, late August 1978, where in Philadelphia we find a young Montana-grown Joseph, full of hope+aspirations, caught between his military friend's personal strife, and his own ambitions of perhaps someday becoming a renown comedian under his alter ego "Bruno".
/// The comedian angle for Pascha is reminiscent of me. Part of my own biography is that I was a touring stand-up comic during my teenage years. I retired from the craft February 14, 2009 (at the Missoula Public Library of all places), but I *think* I still have some funnies left. In the prelude, Die, Detective!, pretty much all of the jokes spoken are mine. I consider it a natural extension of the wisecracks made throughout the series. Also, Philadelphians (particularly folks from West Philly) have a special kind of humor that I'm excited to showcase here.🤪

black and white photo of the Uptown Theater

After a six-year city-mandated hiatus, Philadelphia's famed Uptown Theater is having what it calls its 'Easter Week': a one-off weeklong revival showcase ("The Jukebox") before it finally closes its doors due to increasing blight in the north part of town*; the neighborhood is no longer as safe and vibrant as it was just a decade prior.** The venue's closure🔒 part is factual, but the date(s) may not be accurate. The African-American community is still feeling the effects of the Civil Rights Movement, compounded with first Chief of Police and then-Mayor Frank Rizzo's antics and policies frozen in place during that decade. Turning inward, the Community becomes increasingly activist, self-destructive, and simulataneously self-expressive [in my opinion, some of the most beautiful music from that era came directly out of Philly]. In the middle of all this we have some blue-eyed soul, a young Pascha who is also struggling to find his place in the world as he chases his dreams, follows his heart, and succumbs to destiny. This part of the story (fictitiously what transpires in the aftermath of the Amateur Night held on Saturday August 5, 1978) is the most pivotal in telling because the events define who and what our eponym is (to become).

The significance of the Uptown Theater cannot be understated here (it was added to the National Registry of Historic Places in 1982). Factually, Georgie Woods ceased to produce shows in/by 1972, not 1978. I, of course, am using artistic license with many facets of this history - dates, names, etc.. I'll artifact some interesting tidbits of information about that period of time in Philadelphia's history in this footnote.

The venue is located at 2240 N. Broad Street, near the campus of Temple University. It was erected between 1927 - 1929. For many years afterward, as North Philadelphia became a bright spot and entertainment destination for fresh immigrants to the city, the middle and upperclass residents frequented the area (section of town) for its nightlife, which complemented the blue collar vibe of the neighborhood. In its heyday, Uptown Theater was a rival to the Apollo Theater in Harlem, NYC in terms of acts brought in, community tradition, and popularity.

In its later years, namely those from the 1960s and early 1970s, it was a hub for civil rights activism in the forms of spoken word and music, as the Black demographic was somewhat under siege from law and order. The area was riddled with high crime, causing the neighborhood to, well .. change. A lot of prominent and high-profile African-Americans from that era, such as Malcolm X and those from the NAACP, would visit (the area, radio stations, and the venue itself), thereby re-energizing the Community. Additionally, Woods would hold what he called 'freedom shows' to further make this point.

Here, we go back in time and explore the ongoings of MOVE (particularly the buildup to August 8, 1978). This is crucial as presented inside (metaphorically-speaking) the Uptown Theater.

Again, in bringing this flashback to life, there was a lot of second-hand study done during my research, but I had a few allies here. There are people still around who can vividly recall the days when acts such as The Supremes were booked to perform at the venue on the cheap (relatively speaking, $400 for a 10-day residency!!!🤯). Uptown Theater was also a staple on the so-called Chitlin' Circuit. Many of the acts (colored or otherwise) over a period of time were brought in courtesy of Georgie Woods, himself a voice (literally, he worked in radio🎙️📻) instrumental in getting other voices in the Community heard at a time when the work to do so was still greater than the payoff. As they say, old habits die hard. In this opera, Woods is portrayed (an indirect representation) by native Philadelphia personality, Rock Hefner, who - as Bobbe Penn (the name was a mutual pick) - brings his own individuality to the role.
/// +At first, I had Bobbe Penn as part of a make believe duo that was supposedly modeled after the music production team, Gamble & Huff, from that era. They were going to be named 'GO' from 'Todd G' and 'Warren O'. There was a scheduling error with the would-be partner of one of the actors, so I went ahead with just making the producer solo. I then decided that music production (having to create 1970s-style R&B tunes) just for a solo act would be too costly, and wouldn't really add anything outside of a soundtrack.
+Penn's story was always going to be attached to the Uptown Theater. After further review, the solo act became synonymous with the tellings of those years through the lens of Georgie Woods. Now with that character being a disc jockey, I have a perfect excuse to introduce one of my all-time favorite songs, 'Blame It On the Boogie', which was something I was going to do, anyway.😅

+In real life, Rock Hefner has a fantastic sense of humor. Considering that this chord is ultra-serious in its content, having him onboard to convey this backstory is quite the treat in an otherwise pseudo-depressing piece.
I don't envision just collating subplot points retroactively. The events would hypothetically take place before and leading up to ChordH (it's weird, I know, but you'll love how I make it fit) -- this threnody spans Palm Sunday through Easter). From there, I have interwoven those minor elements into the major tapestry that is this opera.

The hardnose behavior and sardonic temperament of our maverick detective is risque, to say the least, and has been valued as an asset among fans. He has been used to represent the everyman who perhaps could not say and do things that were otherwise unfashionable. His exploits and adventures have touched on sensitive topics, such as homophobia, racism, xenophobia, and large-scale domestic terrorism. The audience knows what they are getting with Pascha; it revels in vicariously helping him sort through the predicaments he faces with the expected outcome of disaster being averted because he just surmounted the odds.

... and that is where we find Pascha today, an elderly man with one (1) more trick up his sleeve on the brink of receiving his due pension, but genuinely unsure of whether the odds are still in his favor. Losing his religion, his insecurities stem from years, .. decades of having rubbed people the wrong way in order to answer the calls of duty that may never add up to anything more than a thankless job. A miserable alcoholic, he drinks* away personal demons which are the result of posttraumatic stress disorder, thus becoming his own worst enemy in geriatric anger, and now, in an effort to salvage his sanity, is pitted against the most formidable foe - himself.** His personal favorite is a brand of DIY rum called Brown Hue😉. (Drink responsibly.🥃)

"I'm back in Philly and on my worst behavior!" - Pascha

To put it bluntly, in addition to being a heavy chain smoker🚬, he is a bonafide flush (a true 'drunken sailor') and it shows. -- Don't get him wrong, his public demeanor is relatable when it has to be. -- Lack of self-discipline in regards to drinking and its damaging effects has ruined his relationship over the years with his children. Factor-in that his pride, has, in the past, refused to let him get the professional help he could have used, Pascha today is in-and-out of mandated therapy (physical, psychiatric) but still not making long-term plans because he secretly and instinctively knows that the poison will consume and ultimately get the best of him in his already downward spiral. ~~He is borderline suicidal at this point in time;~~ some days he finds his lonesome actually trying to drink himself to death, perhaps as a coping mechanism for dealing with the onset of Parkinson's disease (compounded with diabetes).

With extreme reticence, he's returned to Philadelphia (where he enrolled in the U.S. Coast Guard [@Penn's Landing] through 1978 before accepting an offer to become a private detective in the fictional place of Elsewhere*) from his extended sabbatical in the Rocky Mountains so that he can "rebuild some semblance of a social life".** A stand-in for small town life. In truth, he's looking for redemption. We are to believe that the only thing keeping him 'going' is the practice of pseudo-parenting he gets by hosting his grandchildren while hoping for reconciliation with his estranged family, although he is enjoying his new toy jukebox😇.
Since becoming a quinquagenarian, he's done plenty of self-examination, and has grown sick of the life that he has lived as an adult. Panoramic view of very early twenty-first century Butte, Montana After filing his resignation, he immediately moved back to his hometown of Butte, Montana (hint: here the whole of Montana is a synecdoche for Mount Nebo) for a refresher. This included setting up business continuity+safety protocols (ie. threat detection, penetration blocking, etc.) on a part-time basis for his old employer, Lindros (he was a laborer at the company as a teenager while earning his GED), on her phosphate mining camp in the area. While there (for roughly three years), his alcoholism grew stronger (he would blow his 'easy money' on the bottle), and he discovered that he no longer has any desire to protect anybody outside of his own interests; he wants little more than to free himself from the burden of representing the law. But, away or not, he calls Montana home🏠.

Back in Philadelphia -- other than the decent pay (saved up from the CGIS job, he hopes to use his earned pension ($$) to purchase a large huckleberry farm in Western Montana and plant a family business, but this may be a pipe dream, health diversion, or both), he despises everything that the security industry stands for, and is starting to side with those who have been historically oppressed in this country, especially at the hands of what his chosen profession represents. Self-inflicted incredulity has him feeling almost ashamed to have ever been involved in the capacity that he was. At this stage, he is an über-seasoned veteran at the end of his journey anxious to tip the fedora.

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The bit about him losing his religion is the crux of the first chord. Humans have extreme capacities for deluding themselves into believing or following some thing, or whatever thing brings them comfort. For many, organized religion can lead to many unanswered questions that lend themselves to faith by default. Pascha over the years has been tested in many different ways. Part of the reason he's still standing is because he just can't bring himself to die without first paying off his debts. Only he knows what those tallies are, but we find him here by rote thinking that because the likelihood of him ever being ordained a saint is extremely low - Simon Peter may never call his name, the least he can do to help himself and others is to spread the truth.

He was once anonymously forwarded some literature with a cover page that read quite simply: →→"JESUS IS SATAN"←←. In it was doctrine containing some hacked together biblical scholarship about how Jesus Christ explicitly called himself the 'Morning Star' in the last book (Revelation 22:16: 📯"I am the root and the Offspring of David, and the bright Morning Star."), a title usually attributed to the planet Venus and reserved for Lucifer himself. It then went on to make the argument that because God intentionally withheld knowledge from mankind, that He was unworthy of worship, and that Satan has always been known as the 'Great Deceiver'. Hence, the Bible is the Devil's work of deception starring himself as the savior (false prophet) who claims to be able to save others but could not muster up the power to do so for himself.

This was a quick read, but it's impact made an indelible impression on him. So much so that his substance abuse, which used to only affect his physicality, was beginning to noticeably interfere with his mental health. Now, all he can think about when it comes to his Catholicism is how much of a sham it is/was, and concludes that tribal instincts are what make people come+stay together, not imposed (upon) literary falsehoods. After reading this, he felt a strong sense of betrayal; as if his entire life had been a series of one big lie after another. He proceeded to start asking himself questions that had been bothering him for decades: Did Palm ever really love him? Who are his kids? Why does he feel so uncomfortable in his own skin?

Some might conjecture that he suffers from White guilt, but that isn't my aim with Pascha. It would be easy to deduce this because of the relationships he has formed throughout. Pointedly, his crime scene partner of old was a Black fellow. There was a pronounced buddy-cop vibe between his character and Alven (now his seasonal fishing buddy on the Clark Fork since the turn of the century) in his first big adventure. We also can't discount the driver, Smiley, who befriended during this time period. So, we can assume that the detective has at least a soft spot for working alongside Black people.

It would not be hard to fathom that a child born and raised in 1960s rural Northwest America, might have some inclination of curiosity towards colored people. Color television was just coming of age, and Black people were finding their way onto mainstream programming during the 1970s (eg. The Jacksons^[i], The Jeffersons^[ii], Flip Wilson^[iii], Bill Cosby, etc.). It's not far-fetched to assume that a young impressionable mind might have been fascinated in some manner by the comedy stores of the people to whom he made an audience.

... one of the first people I befriended when I settled in Montana was a White gentleman whose name was actually John. He was a really cool guy, and probably the funniest person I've ever met (his humor was in that he was so unassuming). He and his folks were from Louisiana, and at that point in my life, I was coming off the tail-end of my scholarship into the histories of Black-White relations, so we bonded over trying to figure out each other's cultures. I distinctly remember him saying his sister "just wasn't a racist person". I think that statement resonated with me because even though it's rare, there are, in fact, some people in this world who simply do not care about or are unwilling to be bothered over other people's genetics. John's family being from the Deep South, and its reputation, made it amazing for me to hear that declaration. It's possible that, subconsciously, maybe I have taken some cues from John when writing Pascha.

narrative

Easter:Die, Detective! takes place in Philadelphia

In today's current social climate, pockets of once-latent animus are manifesting+spreading across the globe - be it from shifting politics, stances on immigration, bigotry, or what have you - engendering bunches of armchair heroes and keyboard⌨️ warriors; cowards in need of a figurehead they can galvanize behind until their version of order is restored or parturitated.

"All things being equal, I'd rather be in Philadelphia."* - Pascha

** The quote is adapted from W.C. Fields' epitaph, "I would rather be living in Philadelphia.". Unless things are under control, then things are out of control. What we have here is a major city (Philadelphia) on the brink of chaos.

What has induced panic in the opera is a number of things. The entity named 'SAINT BERNARD' (SB). SB has made a number of under-the-table deals over the course of the past few months with religious sects worldwide to force either the demolition or removal of the Al-Aqsa Mosque🕌 so that the prophesied Third Temple can be erected. Meanwhile, a worldwide pandemic in the form of a viral🦠 neurotoxin (biowarfare?) has crippled the global economy, and the anticipated aftermath of a recovery has sparked fears of a hegemonic shift between the Western and Eastern hemispheres; potentially resulting in a clash of cultures and an inevitable world war. SB's deliberate attempt to invoke the Second Coming✝ tickles the diabolical beaks of war hawks, but not without consequence.

In the midst of this outbreak that has quarantined large swaths of the population, there has been yet another sensationalized incidence of fatal violence committed toward an unarmed and presumed innocent minority at the hands of law enforcement, this time, they belong to Pascha's own partner, Bunny. This miscarriage has put the whole town - already fragile from previous similar occurrences across the country - on-edge. Unfortunately for said law enforcement, the difference between other jurisdictions and the City of Brotherly Love is that she lives up to her reputation as being the most blue-collar, no-nonsense town in America, totally intolerant of brutality towards its citizens by those who have taken an oath to protect them. They have social media and a backlog of public case studies replete with examples of no justice being brought to officers in the courts of law. Now, where there was hope and maybe even expectation of a drawn out trial that could potentially result in an acquittal, certain neighborhoods - exhausted from fighting for very limited resources, have other plans for dealing with the perpetrators and the interrelated corrupt justice system.

Bunny is an ambitious NCIS officer who is fresh off of a murder case she just helped solve.

Harkening backwards somewhat to create a referential plot point, Bunny has just deciphered clue codes that allow the cold case of Felix to begin to thaw in the Auxiliary unit's ongoing three (3)-month investigation of his brutal murder (victim's head crushed, mutilated genitalia, beating, etc.). It turns out that the victim was dating the grandson of the DA. There are suspicions that Bunny had been involved in the crime from the start, and was protected by the District Attorney herself as a favor. Hence, we can see why she is rising in the ranks rather quickly.

I envision her in the mold of Mark Fuhrman, the notorious detective from the infamous O.J. Simpson murder case. -- a sleaze with a personal vendetta who was willing to plant and tamper with evidence that could have damaged an investigation -- she was also drawn from the Tulsa-based officer, Betty Shelby, who was arrested, tried, and ultimately not convicted of manslaughter after a federal review by the DoJ in her case for murdering Terence Crutcher🙏 (watch her run from the courthouse after the verdict like a little punk-ass bitch). Tulsa has a history of profound acts of violence against Black civilians, dating at least back to the Black Wall Street massacre (1921). What struck my chord was the fact that Shelby and her partners (ground assist and helicopter pilot husband) had the cameras turned off leading up to the execution, and then the coroner compounded that by testifying that the victim (Crutcher) had narcotics in his system.

As an aside - a word about character development -- for a short while when I was a teenager, I had gotten to know a classmate of mine who was super-prejudice. I was more ignorant to and fascinated by that stuff back then to the extent that I am now, and she let me essentially document her (I had so many questions). It turned out that before she became a vitrioled person, she was romantically involved with a Black fellow (not me or anyone I knew) and their relationship went sour. She had a "redneck" (her words) boyfriend that "would spit on interracial couples" (he also "drove a big truck") and was really proud of that. My documentary of her stuck with me, and this is how I imagine someone like her could turn out to be (to be fair, Black women who were failed swirlers have been guilty of said psychology - reverted pro-racialness, too). -- Except that this gal (Bunny) is on the clock (she has political bosses), and that makes her extremely dangerous.

Her characteristics also loosely implicate the psychological complex that a person secretly hates the people that they help (eg. Jennifer+Sarah Hart, Renee Bach, Honest Abe Lincoln, the Democratic Party) and/or secretly loves the people that they oppress (both angles are valid). In the 🧼opera, Theo fits the complementary profile; he and Bunny (the name is a nod to the Easter Bunny, not the 'snow bunny' pejorative) at some point were lovers.

"It's never enough to be one step ahead; you have to stay in-stride. Do the math. I'm the theta in the equation; they weren't expecting me." - Theo

There is a new assignment for the talented young officer who is being quickly promoted through the ranks of the Coast Guard Investigative Service (CGIS): a dragnet is on for "Theo", the mid-Atlantic's most dangerous gang leader. Bringing him to justice could lead to great rewards and coveted recognition that comes along with it. With the assistance of her connections to the city government and dubious ties to the criminal underworld, this shouldn't be a problem, and wouldn't be if she can just do things her way. Having been recently partnered with retired lieutenant Pascha (who is supervising as part of his community service exit interview requirements so that he can expunge his prior dishonorable discharge and thereby receive his full pension and health benefits that include copay treatment [L-DOPA💊] for his Parkinson's/diabetes package) for port security, Bunny surmises that the most opportune time to test the limits of her authority without askance will and has come while under the tutelage of one of the most controversial officers in this country's history. On a routine traffic stop, and doubtedly 'fearing for her life', she opens fire on a seatbelted father and his young daughter, killing them both⚱️. With no witnesses other than an unwitting Pascha, the precincts and city are left with the difficult task of explaining and defending this tragedy to the public. Questions arise: is there innocence in this case, and where to place the blame? -- and are answered quickly: blame is placed squarely on Pascha, framing him. Furthermore, because of what appears to be a curtailing of a kingpin's business dealings, a hit is put out on the detective's life, endangering him.

Leading up to Day 0, there was minor/low-activity from the kingpin. Beginning with Die, Detective!, Darby "Theo" Park is a major headache. His actual full name is 'Darby Park'. 'Darby' (or 'derby') means "deer park". 'Darby' is the name of towns in Pennsylvania and Montana (the opera bounces back-and-forth between the two states). His chosen nickname, "Theo" - which doubles as his street name (ie. those to whom he commands), comes from the Greek wording of 'god' or 'folk'. He wields his authority with a 'roscoe', which is informal slang for a pistol gun.^[d] In short, he uses "Theo" for his superiors, and "Darby" for his inferiors.

For the past thirty-six months, Theo has been launching biological warfare against the regional police force, having already successfully annihilated upwards of ninety-seven percent (>97%) - sans SWAT teams - of the personnel via weaponized airborne microbial cultures. His crew, "The Pharmacy", is armed with - among other biochemicals - a large stash of phosphate binders that it has cleverly used to sicken said staffs with by disrupting the urinary tract with an over-abundance of calcium (stones), resulting in widespread kidney disease (failure). Obviously, the depletion has left the Philadelphia Police Department in a state of crisis (crime has skyrocketed) and low morale. The frightened citizenry, having taken steps to arm itself, screams "endtimes". It is also a big reason that the City Council has pointed to the incompetence of the current mayor and is calling for his immediate removal+replacement (hence the special political election).

At the same time, Theo is also out to destroy all of his competitors and would-be competition. The gang has introduced a new kind of narcotic to the market. They are offering an extremely potent liquid drug that can be consumed orally (ie. swallowed). It is almost like a clear fruit or energy drink (very popular in the Allegheny-Delaware-Lehigh Valleys) that resembles water and may taste like fruit punch. Many of its ingredients have already been FDA-approved. For that reason alone, it is extraordinarily difficult for customs to detect, physicians to medicate, and for the law to criminalize. Theo and his band have been making money hand-over-fist selling the chemical for dirt cheap, but at the cost of population stability and inanition. One of the major (if not unintentional) side effects of the toxin is progressive neurological disorder and contamination, namely a defection of chromosome 4 (:a cause of Huntington's disease).

Fortunately for everybody else, him leaving forensic clues amateurishly around town magnetizes the masterful pastiche of our exceptional detective.

Pascha had little idea that his assigned mentee was a slimy, fledgling bigot, nor did he understand how deep corruption ran throughout the city's major players from top-to-bottom. Nonetheless, this episode has triggered an intense flashback to the MOVE standoff and shootout event that shaped him during his stint in 1978 as an ensign residing in the fictional East Philly* (ie. what would be a hypothetically designated portion of the East Park section of Fairmount Park), and an unresolved issue involving him during that time period (he was a dishonorably discharged helicopter pilot in the U.S. Coast Guard before becoming a private eye).** Since it doesn't exist in real life, this allows me to create new architecture(s) for setting, which is good because now we can do off-site computer-generated imagery.

MOVE Philadelphia bombing aftermath

Now, with a special political election underway, the town's entrenched power elite are out to protect themselves from this rising menace (potential civil enmity) at considerable cost. Their tentacles run deep. Pascha's entire flotilla [spearheaded by Admiral Lent Goode] turns against him (forcing him into absolute fugitivity), leaving him embroiled in a search for the truth about his colleagues, the city, and own future.

"Ultimately, strength prevails. -- There is no balance of power. Equality is a myth, and rather boring." - Ember

An old rivalry is rekindled as the mysterious Mr. Alphabet and his conglomerate, Nile LLC, steadily move into town from Portland, Oregon in search of a second headquarters. The local magnate, Maundy, feels that her business dealings may be threatened by the arrival of the new enterprise, and looks to act quickly. In opposition to her, the city's emerita district attorney, Ember Libitina, seeks to oblige the requests of Mr. Alphabet, which entails cleaning up the streets of crime, poverty, and foul activity. Maundy, who has puppeteered thugs and drug lords to do her bidding in the past, once again encounters her legal nemesis, except that this time - in the midst of an important political election - the stakes are much higher. Meanwhile, Theo is on the hunt for city personnel who could thwart him. The DA's office responds to the very serious potential challenges posed by the kingpin by placing Ember in the care of Pascha for the time being.

If there is such a person who would be the main character - in the sense of them driving the narrative - in the opera, it's Maundy Lindros. She comes from privilege, and that's not something that she sheds lightly. She is the head of a shipping (freight+cargo+supply chain logistics) company that operates out of the Eastern seaboard, and this is the largest source of her wealth.

When I wrote the first incarnations of Maundy, the character was actually an obese male; I had a stereotypical Mediterranean mob boss / crime overlord in the mold of Vito Corleone (or Wilson Fisk). That idea was discarded because I think the world needs to move away from over-subjugating certain persons, and because we've already seen that done many times over. ... and because this storyline didn't have a place to fit such a gangster's history; a requisite for understanding what makes someone like that tick.

I then rewrote Maundy as a cultish elder, but again, too stereotypical; almost borderline tinfoil hat stuff. The easy fix was to just change the gender. Women and their motives (especially in the company of men) tend to be much more difficult to follow on screen/stage when all the audience is given is a few minutes with them. Men are simple to gauge; we have a small menu. Women, on the otherhand are usually (not always) in supportive roles (in the company of men), meaning that there is a lot more on their plate that they're actually dealing with when it comes to keeping waters calm. Maundy's that person. She is a monster in her own right, though her sophistication will not allowe her emotions to devolve into a savage like Stu; nibbling on an oppressive spice like most would-be miscreants is beneath her. Instead, she's had plenty of time to seduce and manipulate those she needed to to get where she wants to be. Those can be the toughest people to read since you're inadvertently part of their plans. Avarice is her basic instinct. Because she represents absolute power, this character needed to be larger in scope than everyone around her; so slick that we feel she may be the embodiment of the 👿Devil Herself.

"I'm a competitor. Winning adds value to Life. Losing is a choice, and a poor one. You deserve what you let happen to you." - Maundy

What was demanded was an instant declaration of character. In 1978, the Navy Yard in Philadelphia is 'undocking'; having practically been de-commissioned since its last ship was built some eight years prior, the U.S. Military has begun organizing plans to transfer ownership of the grounds to the highest private domestic bidder in an effort to stave off foreign competition towards the end of the Cold War. The opportunistic Newport News-based baron, Maundy Lindros, has caught wind of the sale and wants to expand her dealings in the corridor. When we meet Maundy in Die, Detective!™ (the work's prelude = the year 1978), we immediately know who sets the tone. A Norfolk-born+raised aristocrat instilled with a sense of noblesse oblige (although you wouldn't at first guess this from her affection for cowgirl boots👢), she runs things without titles. Blind (born with optic nerve hypoplasia) - yet visionary - and mute, she's deignly mastered the secret to being in two (2) places at once - by having your DNA all over the place (and holograms). We're not afraid of her, we just would rather not deal with her if we don't have to.

Possessing a genius IQ, she has applied it masterfully to naval architecture. Her enterprise (to which she was a legatee), Lindros FlyerCast & Irons, Ltd., was instrumental in building and bringing the first fleet of slave ships to Rhode Island's wharves*, and today controls the regional (Philadelphia-Hampton Roads corridor) seaport for all merchant maritime freight.** I made that up, there's no real historical significance. Wink😉 to the Swedish surname. By proxy, her company is also the de facto operator of the Philadelphia Water Authority, holder of the Philadelphia Gas Company, mutual owner of SPEC (Southeastern Pennsylvania Electric Company), silent majority stakeholder in the Panama Canal Mortgage, and financier of the Thanks Endowment.

She doesn't know it yet, but her heavy investment in Securitas AB is about to look more prudent (and dangerous at the same time), thanks to the hiring of Pinkerton consultant Gunyo Gruber. Like with any control freak, she's grounded in materialism, because to them, possessions are tangible realism. That's what's scary about her; she's bureaucratic, not political.
/// +For reference, Maundy's full name is Maundy Lindros. The name comes from 'Maundy Thursday', retaining Easter nomenclature. The name 'Lindros' was chosen in honor of of Eric Lindros, who played for the Philadelphia Flyers hockey🏒 team, that's also where the name of her inherited business (Lindros FlyerCast...) comes from. -- Trivia: "Maun-" is derived from Old Norse; akin to Olde English "gemynd", meaning 'think' or 'intellect'. -- She has no siblings, never married, and is childless. We can conjecture that because her traditional parents may have been somewhat disappointed by having a physically disabled/handicapped kid, they decided to not bring any more children into this cruel world, and instead, dedicated all of their resources to her development, which may explain her heightened senses, genius, and work ethic. Her zodiac sign is Pisces♓👍.
+The first ban on slavery anywhere in the American (New England) colonies was passed on May 18, 1652 in the territory of what is now Rhode Island. Since this is fiction, anyway, we may assume, for good measure, that the Lindros family - perhaps upon Quaker conversion after its Virginia settlement - may have had something to do with the passing of that code.
She really is untouchable. Throughout most of the opera, we rarely get to see her in the flesh; she uses holograms exclusively.

A diabolical recluse who seldom docks for anyone, Maundy (in the vicinity of her bodyguard/captain/pilot, Lef'fut) resides on a Class A submersible, the Drebbel, that often deep cruises somewhere nearby in the Atlantic Ocean, probably in a bay off the coast of New Jersey. -- Heck, I wrote her and I can't even pinpoint her location.🤷‍♂️ -- This is to give a sense of how little she thinks of both the limelight and people on land, along with the baggage each brings. Allergic to stress (her philosophy for living a long life), she takes great precautions to ensure her well-being.

On the business side, she runs Lindros using encrypted holograms with keyboard input. The corporate office occupies the top floor (penthouse) of One Liberty Place, and is managed by her assistant, Lily. It also operates mineral mining camps in Silver Bow County, Montana.

In addition to being the world's premiere distiller of argon, Lindros is the largest importer of phosphate from Morocco in the Americas. A subplot is that Philadelphia's Islamic demographic (spearheaded by its North African Muslim community) wants her company to pay retribution for unfair trade practices between the two countries, and a sizable number of Moroccan mobsters have sprouted inside the City and around the Delaware Valley for this very purpose. To protect her wharf from local mob threats, she employs the East Philly-based kingpin, Theo.

"The only thing a person can genuinely make is a decision." - Maundy

Basically, the whole story centers around her, as told from interactions with our eponym. To some degree - and on a very high-level, the entire piece purveys the rivalry between Maundy and her adversary, Ember. For the better part of forty-plus years, these two power brokers have formulated an ongoing mutual disdain for each other; engaging in a soft war of money versus clout. It has taken an outsider and an incredible event to align their singular objectives. The tricky part about this character is that she brings no intentional antagony to the narrative; (other than her younger self's direct involvement with Pascha's reformation, ie. Joseph becoming John) she is not the sworn enemy of our protagonist/antagonist. Yet, the ebb+flow of her executive decisions pretty much entangles everyone in her web.
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Mr. Alphabet (aka Dwight Mann) is a younger, hungrier, substantially wealthier (as the world's richest person by far), but more progressive tycoon, and he demands that the utility companies that Maundy owns be returned to the democratic jurisdiction in advance of his cheque-writing. This places major strain on Ms. Lindros, to the point that she is forced to improvise, which is akin to the awakening of a sleeping giant.

"We shouldn't listen to them. ... Their cheering's all artifice. The truth is, for my downfall, they've been waiting." - Maundy

In the political arena, Ember - now Attorney General Emerita - who has been pursuing legal avenues to incriminate Maundy for four decades (since Frank Rizzo's tenure), feels obligated to comply with Mr. Alphabet because everything that he promises aligns with her politics, and, as mayor (once oathed), she would have the means (as the top cop she's always had the authority but not the opportunity) to finally prosecute+usurp her nemesis.

Now in her eighth decade of life, the Attorney General Emerita sees this special election in which she is running as the culmination of all of her works and possibly her last chance at holding said coveted office. It's a credible longshot, but being the Mayor of Philadelphia would cap the efforts of a distinguished legal career and satisfy her public ambition. Ember seeks to re-assert the 'natural order of things' throughout and around the town (and judging by her ties to Speaker Turtle, beyond). Her campaign is based on adjectives such as reform, gentrification, safety, and progress. She is definitely "in it to win it".

Make no mistake, neither of these women are angels. Each has an air of desperation to get the other 'out of the way'. Whereas, Lindros has the money to buy her power, Ember is particularly nefarious in her control of the rulebook (and the impulse to abuse it). This may very well prove to be a situation where the pen and sword are fair in might.

"I've lived a long, normal life. Like you, I used to be overwhelmed with sadness when people died. Stay in law enforcement long enough, and we all come to the same satisfying conclusion: criminals make it easy to see that not everyone wants or deserves to live." - Ember Libitina

I actually couldn't tell this story without Ember. One, the incumbent mayor, Curran, needs a worthy challenger in the runoff election that's taking place, and two, in order to keep things from spiraling out-of-control, Maundy's overbearing authority has to be challenged by an adversary from the political sphere. It just does. This situation (the distribution of Mr. Alphabet's intra-city investment) lends itself perfectly to a winner-takes-all 'Battle for Philadelphia' that nobody can actually win. The ever-so-sharp Libitina shows us that people's migrant behavior is recycled from patterns of economic health [ie. roughly every two (2) decades or every other generation, the wealthier class relocates back into the city for jobs/employment+transportation before saving their money and moving to the suburbs]. This is an important note and plot point, as we see that residential stagnation is a detriment and impossibility where there exists youth.

Precautious, Maundy initiates the 'ArC Project' [NOAH]. Since 1978 when she strong-willed the then-city council to turn over the utilities into her private hands, she's made a vast fortune, acquired extraordinary influence, and become a menace to the jurisdiction, especially the District Attorney's office. Now things are coming full circle for her, but, she is composed, insightful, and equally as resourceful. We'll see how this plays out.

The opera begins with Die, Detective!. Its four (4)-chorded arc, in order, is N, O, A, and H. Her being in shipbuilding invites you to assume that the remainder of the work has something to do with that element of religiosity. By ChordN (the start of Pentecost), her mettle is tested, and we'll see just what she is all about. She doesn't shy from her sentiment that Pascha went and started some shit and now she's got to finish it.

"Welcome back, John. They may not know who you are, but I do. Dates expire; you could only run for so long. ..I never forget a favor, especially one that's owed. It's time to collect." - Maundy

As a countermeasure to the volatile and reacctionary political atmosphere, Maundy employs a Levantine mercenary-turned-lawyer named Gunyo "Little Gun" Gruber to tend to her 'troubles'. Pascha's government operative son, Egg (Joey), seems overwhelmed by his new assignment, while his daughter, Lily (Stefania Lucia), is bothered by professional choices that compound her own personal struggles. Somewhere in West Philly, a neighborhood preacher feels vindicated by the city's self-inflicted wound.

There is an impending multi-year, very large monetary foreign investment🤑 that is due to the City of Philadelphia over the span of the next five years with the first installment due at the end of the upcoming first quarter (March 31, nearly coincidental with Easter holiday), and the investor(s) (an alias known as "Mr. Alphabet") is adamant about moving their people and business assets into a "cleaned-up" (faux key phrase: green thumb) town [Philadelphia is desirable because it geographically sits at a port between the world's political capital, Washington, D.C., and also its financial capital, New York City, which goes along with theirs and Maundy's trans-Atlantic freight plans (it's also where I was born😜)]. The sooner this can be done, the better. To them - in opposition to the incumbent administration - this means ridding (or at least substantially thinning) Philadelphia of its Black demographic, to which they attribute disproportionate crime statistics, over-reliance on government assistance, non-shrinking poverty, and hastened artificial decay ...just a drain on society. While this may or may not be correct, these transactions have been under the watchful eye of a few influential persons who support the 'live and let live' philosophy; especially a 'citizens-first over foreigners'/outsiders' mentality. Ironically, all of this is being sold to the public in the name of 'diversity'^[i]. That in itself causes a rift amongst the city council [board members], and ethnic crime bosses - themselves promised favors - pounce to capitalize on the discord.

None of this sits well with Pascha, who, in tandem with a slough of other personal dealings, is finding it surprisingly difficult to cope with being the witness to this murder. Blackmailed, he is given a tough choice by the higher-ups: cooperate with authorities and help them push-through these very lucrative contracts in return for the assurance of a peaceful and rewarding retirement (which is active), or die under not-so-mysterious circumstances. Not that he would mind, to be honest - considering his current bill of health, but there's no honor in that.

----------

Attribution: in the sense of it encompassing a 1970s procedural, this brand of 'go looking for trouble and you will find it' corruption is a slight nod to the Philly-styled dramatic narratives presented in the Badge of Honor novels by W.E.B. Griffin. --- At the time of all these wicked police shootings between 2012-2016, my cousin wanted to join the PPD. He's got a good heart but poor eyesight (an automatic disqualifier). I personally thought he would make an outstanding officer (depending on where he was placed), so he and I would do separate case studies analyzing each nationally sensationalized homicide, wondering what would be different if any had occurred in the Delaware Valley (the Freddie Gray [Baltimore] and the Eric Garner [Staten Island] cases were close, but no cigar). Parts of our hypotheses came from watching the television show, Cold Case (which is set in Philadelphia), as well as familiarizing ourselves with Griffin's books.

/// The Shootout of 1978 at Powelton Village house at 311 N 33rd Street in Philadelphia was factual. Putting Pascha in that time period is due to Stu (hint: the other fish AND my character actor = me wanting to put myself in an opera, especially one that has Philadelphia ties) being conceived in June 1978 and thus would have been born in March 1979 (just like me in real life🤪). I'm awesome!

Joe is depicted as being a military pilot, in this case, a helicopter Revenue Marine pilot. I characterized him being part of the United States Coast Guard (itself an intra-military maritime law enforcement agency) due to the fact that a patrolman of his caliber may have had 'search+rescue' instincts before working full-time as a sleuth.

Enter Egg.

"I have no interest in soothing their fears. True equality is them suffering at their expense and to our satisfaction. Let us rejoice in the beauty of carnage." - Egg

In the wake of this, we have a disgruntled civilian named Egg, who, having been disillusioned with authority after his own recent encounter with the legal system moved him beyond reproach, devises a plan to carry-out what he sees is the only logical solution to stop and prevent any further foul play against his community - the extermination of all police officers, and the dismemberment of local officials (eg. those elected, ombuds, prosecutors, etc.) for whom they serve.

To make matters worse, he is even willing and competent enough to take his cause further - orchestrate an all-out war against anybody who is in disagreement with his self-reliance/self-preservation, protectionist philosophy. Inevitably, random persons are made at fault and no one is a safe target, but by billing himself as the "crown of light", this 'manifestation of abuse' - akin to the Grim Reaper - can rationalize being his own judge+jury (however sadistic) by using the survival of the fittest evolutionary tactic so that he can 'bring a new dawn'.

"If I were you, I'd be afraid of me, too." - Egg

Before being sentenced to a hospital for a non-violent offense, Egg was firefighter👨🏿‍🚒 employed by the City on loan to the Philadelphia Water Authority, which is a subsidiary of Lindros FlyerCast & Irons, Ltd.. He was working specifically under a federal grant (a weeks-long hackathon sponsored by the U.S. Forest Service) to build+research urban watersheds for a statewide 'green' ("healthy") initiative. His findings were that somebody was 'poisoning the well', so to speak; for decades there has been foreign particulates (neurological agents) deliberately placed into the drinking water of targeted African-American neighborhoods in Philadelphia and Bucks County. His investigation led him to discover that this had been done perhaps intentionally by an intra-organizational coalition.

When he went to report his findings to his superiors, he was immediately re-assigned, and the project spec dismantled. He was later labeled mentally incompotent, timely laid-off, and then framed for three (3) counts of tampering with federal equipment. Each count held up to one year as punishable by law. Because these were minor trespasses, the authorities decided to ship him interstate to a psychiatric ward in Deer Lodge, Montana for his sentence.

Whatever happens, happens, and for a reason. That mode of thinking catapulted him into the depths of anguish and back again, taking him to the brink of death, where he began irreversible experiments of self-mutilation. These actions ended up costing him his arm in the process, which was later replaced with a 🦾bionic prosthetic.

While on the inside, with his freedoms gone, he did plenty of introspection. He may have tried to find religion to some degree, or at least what it means to be 'religious' in the midst of hell, by sampling the unit's library. But then decided that he's actually not a coward; that it's actually against his best interests to seek false protection from others who were legitimately sick (you typically see hardcore thugs find a religion while in rehab as a way to form a safety net).

With all of his learning and understanding, he found some things about the Holy Bible to be astonishingly peculiar to him. After reading the good book from cover-to-cover, he began to believe that he was blessed, not cursed. His psychosis became more potent over the course of his sentence, and had gotten to a point in schizophrenia where he totally converted to his own belief system.

And like all people on the journey seeking mental resolve, he found a distant source, and then nit-picked that source to get closer to it, selecting what sounded most interesting to him and in-line with his feelings. What he found came directly from three books in the Bible: Genesis, Deuteronomy, and Revelation (ie. the first, the fifth, and the last):
from Genesis 15:13, he learned that the People (Hebrews) were cursed by God: 📯

"And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be sojourners in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years;"

from Deuteronomy 28:15-68, but especially verse 68, he noted that They came over to the New World cast in irons on slave ships, are generally considered to be "of confused mind" (ie. lacking high intelligence), called bywords (eg. 'nigger'), etc.: 📯

"And the Lord will bring you back in ships to Egypt, a journey that I promised that you should never make again; and there you shall offer yourselves for sale to your enemies as male and female slaves, but there will be no buyer."

From those two books alone, he accepted that the Bible speaks in code, and deduced that Black Americans are the true Hebrews.* This would be a distinct group, separate from the Black Hebrew Israelites or Beta Israel. He used Revelation to further make his case:
Revelation 3:7-13: 📯

"To the angel of the church in Philadelphia write:


These are the words of him who is holy and true, who holds the key of David. What he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open. ⁸ I know your deeds. See, I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut. I know that you have little strength, yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name. ⁹ I will make those who are of the synagogue of Satan, who claim to be Jews though they are not, but are liars—I will make them come and fall down at your feet and acknowledge that I have loved you. ¹⁰ Since you have kept my command to endure patiently, I will also keep you from the hour of trial that is going to come on the whole world to test the inhabitants of the earth.


¹¹ I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take your crown. ¹² The one who is victorious I will make a pillar in the temple of my God. Never again will they leave it. I will write on them the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which is coming down out of heaven from my God; and I will also write on them my new name. ¹³ Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches."

Those Revelation chapter+verses convinced him of the City of Philadelphia (his hometown) (as) being the last remaining of the Seven Churches, and that the true Hebrews would come from her when called. Figuring that the first slaves were brought to American (Virginia) shores^[a] in August 1619, that time is now (202x+), he thinks.

So, when we get introduced to Stu in the church scene alongside Dominique, we know that he's at the tail-end of his spiritual journey. From his personal failings, he has arrived at the inevitable delusion: that because the Negro (Hebrew) cannot thrive under oppression, it should not co-exist with its oppressor(s).* This is the thesis of H. Rap Brown's autobiography.

Back in Philly, he returns home to find his wife making drastic lifestyle changes, his young children having lost respect for him, and he himself an extremely bitter person. With little to lose, no time to waste, and realizing that he must act quickly if he is to self-fulfill a prophesy (of Armageddon and thus ending the curse), his plot for revenge begins. He goes on the hunt for Theo (it was the kingpin himself who helped frame him; giving the police the planted evidence that sent him away), Maundy (his former employer whom he holds responsible for oppressing his 'Hebrew' people), and every active law enforcer. Accomplishing this is no small feat, as he sees enemies in gangs & street thugs (à la Theo's comrades) as well as the corporations (viewing America itself as a corporation) -- all shareholders in corruption, and which are equally as guilty in oppressing Hebrews over time. Certain targets are harder to hit for reasons that are out of his area of expertise, but that's not going to stop him from trying.

"It's simple economics: you pay for everything you do and don't do. ... If they were already dealt with, then this wouldn't keep happening. -- No regressions. Life is Death's clock. I died a long time ago; today, I'm a soul collector." - Egg

I wrote Egg to be perhaps the nastiest, most vicious antihero ever. He is truly a mean motherfucker. Even though the character is definitely bad news, I refuse to label him outright villainous because he is reactionary; had the others not done what they did, there would be no cause for him to take action. "No more Mr. Nice Guy"; he views himself in prophetic taste like Harriet Tubman; wanting to manumit his followers from the stronghold of socio-economic oppression and is completely sold on the movement.

"... and where has being nice gotten us?" - Egg

I decided to make him a Black male because, since he bears sole responsibility for instigating the war on 'Good Friday', black matches the preferred color of the ecumenical liturgy. In crafting him, I referenced source material from Hubert Brown's autobiography, experimenting with what the fervor from a die hard (pun intended) political activist could have been like in 1960s America. Also examined were some third-party peripheral studies of John Africa's MOVE ideologies ("The Guidelines"). In a different ilk, my composite borrowed some traits from characters in movies and television shows dealing with inner-city gangsters and the drug game (I especially was influenced here by Jamie Hector's characterization of Marlo Stanfield in The Wire and Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson's psychotic 'out-for-revenge' portrayal of Kanan Stark in seasons one and two of Power), Dumas' The Count of Monte Cristo (hence the oft-repeated "I have a Black friend, his name is George." line), elements of spaghetti westerns (particularly the 'lonesome dove' act of Clint Eastwood as Man with No Name in the "Dollars Trilogy"), the self-righteousness of Boyd Crowder, along with the swagger of Roy Rogers, certain characteristics of Sam McCloud, Magneto's pragmatism, also the slaughterhaus of Nat Turner, and the rage of Jason Voorhees.
👁️

"Pallas: I thought you eliminated all of the cops?
Egg: I did ... well, accept for one.
Pallas: Who's left?
Egg: Pascha."

Every so often a wildcard🃏 (in this case, Egg) is drawn that comes along and turns the game on its heels; completely changing the status quo, more often than not for the better/best. This is why it's so difficult to pin labels on these characters when you can clearly see from where they are coming, and to some degree, going. However, the mastermind behind all of the drama won't be revealed until the epilogue (per usual).

--------

To reiterate, it's impossible to point to a person and say "they are without blame" in this piece, for both sides have selfish interests. I'll toss my hubris into the hat here and say that the opera explores the facets of personality disorder so well that it's futile to identify the concepts of 'good' or 'evil'; everybody is a spectrum of behaviors conducive to circumstance.

As we dig more into the detective's biography, we learn that perhaps because he's been working in a private capacity for most of his career that he's become used to having an air of privilege and faux immunity. Even though he may think that he is just in 'lending a helping hand', his inclination for careless destructive behavior (massive property damage, etc.) and homicidal tendencies show that he is really no better than the other side of the coin, figuratively speaking.

What we do get to see, though, are the real detective skills of Pascha. Dramatically, his character is fully developed here. There is clear and present danger that, for the most part, only he can address, and if he does his job, he ultimately resolves his issues. If he fails, then we are left to ask what constitutes a 'good guy' anyway(?), and moreso, are task forces really necessary in today's world where cognitive technologies are so prominent?

How to present our detective doing detective-like🕵️‍♂️ things was tricky to accomplish. On one hand, so-called crime dramas were the choice du jour at the tail-end of the film noir age, and that style is something I wanted to mimic in this picture (for purposes of temporal continuity). On the other hand, that style looked 'classic' precisely because it didn't emphasize technology, which is taboo here. So, the decision was made to just let Pascha be as comfortable as he wanted with his toys. Otherwise, you risk having him rely on Columbo-type detective work (where clues come out of nowhere), leaving the audience to do too much thinking on their own. The telepresence route is better because the audience gets to see exactly what he sees. Of course, it wouldn't matter if he didn't actually have a case to solve in the first place.😎

The real hero (if there is one) is actually the jukebox, UUe. As an appliance, it presents workable solutions to poverty problems that are so rampant and counterproductive. It also gives a roundabout answer to the awful political system that has hijacked the city government (which has been under a hostile takeover ever since foreign investors successfully bribed leadership).

--------

In Easter, Pascha faces easily his greatest test yet as he seems to be getting it from a myriad of angles; he is under siege from a number of threats: Stu, the SAINT BERNARD, Theo+Gruber, Maundy+Ember (who embody the municipality's perfidy), Bunny, his own family, past haunts, the uphill battle against substance abuse, and, sadly, the debilitating effects of aging (specifically his deterioration from Parkinson's). I (and this may be just me) liken it to a Batman storyline where the so-called 'Caped Crusader' must square-off against foes from his rogues gallery in the same paneling. Something like Batman (also a vigilante detective) versus a concerted Joker, Penguin, Riddler, Catwoman, Bruce Wayne, Bane, Poison Ivy, and even Robin + Alfred all at once. This is serious.

On the flipside, Pascha gets extraordinary support that he so desperately needs from his old pal, Alven, former colleagues Gilbert+Rowan, and the assistance of his new favorite toy.

"This guy, Egg, is scary a dude, Pash. You're going to need my help, even if you don't want it." - Alven

There is a slight chance that some people may make it through the opera and not know what's going on. For them, I want to state that the story (its arc) centers around re-birth or renaissance after dealing with the repercussions of careless vice. We must stay mindful that Pascha is both - at the same time - the protagonist and the antagonist (a duality). From the first chord, the detective is in a fight with himself ("Joseph" versus "John"). His challenge is to remove the mental and emotional shackles (ie. the evils of alcohol) that have been holding him back from being a healthy person since he was a young man. To accomplish this, he has to accept that his choices made him who he is - for better or worse - and then he can get off the road to perdition. As a hint, Stu and Pascha have a definite connection🔗. They both want the same thing for themselves, to remove the weak link that is keeping each of them from reaching their full potential.

This concept of 'J vs. J' (an internal struggle) is partly due to listening to Usher's song, Monstar, off of his Raymond vs. Raymond album (the dopest track on there, in my opinion👍🏿). Although his circumstances and reasons for creating that music are completely different from what I'm doing here, the germ is identical: each person is their own worst enemy; there's a monster in all of us that needs to be addressed and destroyed, if possible. Additionally, I've been rocking Lalah Hathaway's 'Separate Ways' since 1995 (I had visions of making something like this from back then), and that song and its lyrics (Keith Crouch produced a gem👌) kind of underline my thinking process.

🎼Lyrics of interest: [Usher - Monstar] 🎵"She said she wanna bring out the beast / but she can't tame it ... I'm going to be your nightmare and worst dream all in one night / I'm back / celebrate life" [Lalah Hathaway - Separate Ways] 🎵"Since the tables have turned and there's nothing more to say / should we go our separate ways and pretend it was not meant to be? / Should we seek our own endeavors / though it won't replace you and me?"
🎧/👁️

This is the "Battle for Philadelphia" (that's what I'm labeling it). Here we have a civil war in effect. Even though operatically it (urban guerrilla warfare) takes place over the span of a single Good Friday, the causes of it have been brewing for at least some years. All of these sensitivities are brought to the surface in this piece where over a million people (~2/3 of the current population of Philadelphia) perish, and the audience will have to choose a side.

Our detective's formative adolescence would have taken place during the 1960s and into the 1970s, a time when the country was in a tumultuous period fraught with political assassinations, coping with extreme racial tension, at war overseas, and a number of other evils beyond the scope of this footnote. Die, Detective! is a loose continuation of that era (albeit brought into circa 2018-2020). It is with reservation that I offer admission of this story devolving into a civil war [I do not advocate hate or hate speech]. I had to write it so that such a conflict would be inevitable.

People have been harboring these sentiments for however long. Even if you think you're better than what meets the eye in Easter, this trigger will take you there, so to speak. I made sure that there was a lesson (to be) learned here, though, which is that poverty breeds crime, and crime unleashes ill-will, and that none of it is good. My ultimate hope is that we come to understand that these are problems that need technological and economic solutions; you can't exactly legislate your way out of stubborn social destructs. Mental health and physical wellness matters.⚕️

libretto

Content made publicly available as a prospectus to ad buyers.

walkthrough

My outline (eight-act structure*) for the first chord is as follows:
A prologue+epilogue, and a dyadic three-act structure preceded by the so-called Day 0 overture.
- Day 0

Easter's overture is told in a series of stories called mixtapes, which are form a non-linear chronology of separate non-principal (motion) pictures that comprise Day 0 of the opera's first act, and may or may not have anything to do with the definition in the popular sense of the word. Whereas the opera itself is recorded with a virtual camera system (vcs), the mixtapes have no such photographic requirement. With each mixtape, we are following a certain character in singular form, offering up small tidbits of information related to the overall story arc.

The following verse is the entirety of Ric Flair's scene (video) in Easter. It is spliced+stretched for the effect of extension. Since this exists in hyperreality, we can see that although he is 'acting', his character's storyline is, in fact, plausible.

Setting: we are in modern day. If you are familiar with the lore, John and Palm are divorced with two (2) adult children. From the outset, Pascha's wife was an infidel, and her behavior strained and eventually broke their marriage. We learn that his children are not fond of him. This scene offers hints as to why those subplots were able to evolve they way the they did.

In NOAH (postlude), Palm is in her mid-sixties (60s), deathly sick, and bed-ridden in a hospital in Northern Virginia. She's long over her ex-husband, with a new companion by her side during these last days. This is her time where she decides to confess about whatever had been holding her back (from doing so) for the last forty years. My idea is to have the audience believe that one or both of the children were possibly not Pascha's offspring, and hence, they never were able to fully bond with him. It could be argued that the other party (mother) just stopped liking him at some point and turned the kids against him. Both options will be explored.

What we know here is that Palm is seven (7) years older than John, and that they met in 1978/1979 when she was twenty-five (25) and he was eighteen (18). The circumstances as to how and why they met is beyond the scope of this scene, but suffice it to say that she was an unwed Roman Catholic at that time, and there was probably a stigma attached to that. In this opera, she had just quit being the head nurse (1966 - 1977) in a Wilmington, North Carolina hospital before moving to the Big Apple in hopes of 'trying something new'.

It was in North Carolina during this period (1975 - 1976) where she helped a young Ric Flair recover from his airplane crash with lots of specialized physical therapy, and so forth. The amount of time they spent together over the course of those long months forged an intimacy that ultimately transformed into a non-sexual relationship. We can assume that Ric flirted with her a lot, but she kept her covenant. However, resisting the physicality of a budding superstar and all that it came with was a test she would later fail. They had an emotional affair. Keep in mind that this is before she met Pascha. After moving to NYC, she took a new job, met and married Pascha in 1980, and had her first child within the following two (2) years. Ric and Palm had stayed in-touch since 1976. The Noah's marriage was strained from the beginning, as John, a considerably younger man just beginning his career, didn't want to take on fatherhood, whereas Palm, in her thirties with a ticking biological clock, was forcing parenthood on him. By 1983, both Palm and Ric Flair had marriages that were in trouble, and consoled one another in their failings. Ric flew her out to the Starrcade (1983) in Greensboro, NC that year (under the guise of 'visiting family'), and they finally consummated the physical/sexual part of their relationship. [This is all made-up, by the way.] According to lore, she had her second child, a son named Egg in 1984. ← This is where things get tricky. I wrote the opera with the understanding that as Egg questions his dad's paternity, it would be enough of a dynamic for him to challenge John's authority and come to despise his mother.

- Scene 1 -

Setup --
Egg has come to town for a quick sit down with Ric Flair. Egg is the piece's antihero, and this scene hypothetically takes place in mid-afternoon on a day of Easter Week. He is about to deliberately start a war between law enforcement and a specific populace in Philadelphia on Good Friday. One of his primary targets is Ensign John who is an unwilling pawn in his play. He wants information regarding John's past that he can use against him a case where he might need to prey on the pathos of the general public. Ric Flair has that bit of information. Egg is extremely computer savvy, fearless, and short on time. Not seeking an ally, it is fair for Ric Flair to assume that Egg is single-minded. Egg has accepted Ric's invitation to have him at the house for a drink and discussion. The two are sitting alone in lawn chairs on a porch/terrace separated only by a small coffee table as part of Ric's hospitality. They are relaxed, no frills.

Ric Flair: Hey, I see you. Come on over. Have a seat.

Egg: Thank you. (takes a seat opposite Ric) It's good to see you back on your feet. I won't keep you long. I just need what we talked about. 

Ric Flair: (hands Egg a small memory device before grabbing a bottle) Can I pour you some?

Egg: Nah. I don't drink. (they do away with the niceties and get straight to the point. Egg gestures with his bionic hand and a large computer interface appears with camera footage of Holly in a hospital bed. Ric observes, sighs.)
Ric Flair: How is she?

Stu: I have no idea, only data. This is dated footage. But, usually if they're in a hospital, it means that a person's not okay. 

(Ric pauses, looks off) Ric Flair: She was so pretty when we met. .. this little feisty nurse, you should have seen her. I never did tell her this, but I stayed in rehab that extra month just because I wanted an excuse to have her soft hands on me. Italian women know how to do things, I swear. 

Egg: I'll take your word for it. Did you love her?

Ric Flair: I've loved lots of women.

Egg: Well, love aside, Ric, I have a problem which means that you may have a problem.

Ric Flair: I don't have problems, buddy. At this stage, I just have the rest of my life to live. Other people have problems. What? .. did John find out?

Egg: I suppose he always suspected.

Ric Flair: Well, that's his problem! Just between me and you…, the second-best thing a man can do for himself is to be honest with himself. She told me all I needed to hear about him. I'm on her side. 

(Egg scrolls through screens on the interface) Egg: Lily has a brother (named), ???.

Ric Flair: (shuffling in discomfort) Yeah, well. .. these women. Once you hit a certain plateau, you sometimes do the wrong things for the right reasons, and the right things for the wrong ones. Starrcade was it's own thing. North Carolina's a blessing and a curse. I didn’t really know what was going on back then, man. 1983, ..I was juggling so much stuff. Traveling all the time. 

Egg: Well, today, Pascha is a problem. He's the last one left. I'm going to kill him, but there's a right way to do things. 

Ric Flair: So, you've met him?

Egg: Oh, yeah. He and I have what you call .. a 'connection'. 

Ric Flair: Hrm. (liking what he's hearing, makes a final offer to Egg for a spirit) Sip?

Egg: (shakes head) No.

Ric Flair: I don't want to keep you. Let me read you what she wrote. (opens letter)




"Separate Ways" 

August 15, 2017

Ric, 


I got the horrible news that you were hospitalized after suffering a heart attack. Please know that you and your family have my deepest condolences.



It's been years since we’ve last spoken, and I hope you get this letter in time. If another pair of eyes reach these words before yours, then that's just something that will have to pass. We've lost touch, but not the feeling.



In the event that something happens to me, I just want you to know how much you mean to me. Whatever we had was God-given, I believe that now. The kids will never understand, and I don’t expect them to. As parents, we do our best to guide them in a direction away from our mistakes, but it's nothing but foul for a person to steer another away from love. My only hope is that the Lord can forgive us when we do stray and give into temptation.



If you didn't know, the doctors have given me twenty months to live, tops. I have cervical cancer and complications from Huntington's disease. I can't help but think that with us both being sick at the same time, it must be another sign of our bond. Maybe that's just wishful thinking on my part. I'm in a lot of pain right now, and writing this helps get a lot of baggage off my shoulders. Surely, you have some weight you've been carrying around, too? I don't know if you'll ever get this or not, but if you do, just know that it will have made me feel a little bit better. Here's a poem that pretty much sums up everything I've wanted to say:


Through love and fall / we had it all / something new everyday /

To kiss to tell / to wish each other well / was the name of our game /

But since the tables have turned, and there's nothing more to say /

Should we go our separate ways / and pretend it was not meant to be? /

Should we seek our own endeavors / though it won’t replace you and me? /

Easy come but never easy go, you're still on my mind /

Be it good or bad / you’re all I've ever had / Was it better with time?

Because loving you was the best thing to ever come my way /

Isn't love the key to everything?

This is so we must not know just what it means to really love.



I love you. 

Palm



(closes letter)

Egg: You really are one kiss-stealin' dude, huh?

Ric Flair: I'm just lucky to be alive.

Egg: Thank you. I got all I needed to retrieve. (they shake hands and Stu begins to depart)

Ric Flair: Well, that's it?

Egg: Yes. Ric Flair: I'm guessing you won't have any more of this 'problem'?

Egg: No, we won't. (Flair remains seated, reflecting on what just occurred)

-- end scene --

/// +The poem is comprised of actual song lyrics from 'Separate Ways' performed by Lalah Hathaway.

+Ric Flair is hired to relay/narrate the opera's overture. He will dish out eight (8) one-minute 'Easter eggs' that help explain (to those paying attention) why Pascha went off the deep end and became the officer he is/was. The answer is he became an alcoholic because of the poor life choices he made compounded with him supporting the stress of what came from loving a woman who probably never loved him back. Basically, we're just filming a short chat (scripted) over a brew that sets up an event within the story, while Mr. Flair reads a letter that's relevant to/in-tune with the canon. The eight-minute conversation gets split into eight one-minute long segments which are posted on-schedule through 2023.

----------

This following verse is one of a number of preliminary scenes for the character 'Socks'.

In the case of 'Socks', he is ultimately responsible for the murder of Felix Yota, a public accountant working for the City. That angle is critical as to why the District Attorney in the opera decides to campaign for public office in the manner that she does. The following mixtapes provide a first-look lede into said activity.

'Socks' is the streetname given to an understudy gangster serving in the illegitimate business of 'Theo/Park' throughout Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He is a Black male in his mid-twenties in age. His chosen nickname comes from the irony that he (proudly) does not wear socks with his everyday attire.

These days, he has just gotten news from his girlfriend that they are to be expecting their second child, another daughter, in the coming months. Although he is usually a reliable companyman, he always resorts to / relies on his instinct and selfish ways in his business dealings, which makes him an untrustworthy person to a large degree.

He has been under the employ of Park for approximately two (2) years, and has risen to the rank of lieutenant within the kingpin's organization. Keeping in mind that he only got into the drug game to make money and not friends, he prioritizes his life in such a way that his lifestyle comes first, then family, and maybe other extracurriculars down the line. In that order. Now with an expanding family, Socks wants out of the game completely; his plan is to do a few more jobs, collect his money, gather his family and then vanish.

A careless individual, he makes his living being 'that guy' who gets the dirty stuff done. He is not a nice person, having probably murdered 12-15 people in cold blood since being employed by the organization. We're learning now that he is also a thief. If he is to be successful in executing his escape plan, he’ll have to control his impulses, and also watch is back.

- 🔓Scene 1 {Eden's Cobby} -

[characters: Socks, Foot Soldier, d0x]

-- Socks is alone, seated in a quiet place outside somewhere in the innercity.  It is around mid-morning and he appears to be waiting for someone.  It looks as if he is smoking a narcotic, but this could just as likely be tobacco cigarette.  Someone approaches him from a short distance and they begin to converse. --



Foot Soldier: Uh.. Socks?

Socks: (looking up but not making direct eye contact) …Yeah.

Foot Soldier: I'm supposed to meet you -- (cut off)

Socks: -- What's your password?

Foot Soldier: 'zakee'.

Socks: Alright.

Foot Soldier: (reaches into his pocket and pulls out a bulky packaged envelope) Well, here it is. (he then starts to toss it before stepping closer to Socks and handing it to him instead)  It's all there.

Socks: (nods)

Foot Soldier: I thought there were two (2) of you here?

Socks: That's right.

Foot Soldier: Where's the other -- (cut off)

Socks: The way this works is you deliver your bulk, and then pick up mine. (still puffing, he then points to a car at a distance)  .. the black car over there.

Foot Soldier: Sario wants triple the manpower next time we have to make another move like this.

Socks: (making direct eye contact) I don't give a fuck about what Sario wants!

Foot Soldier: Tell that shit to Park.

Socks: (chuckles)

Foot Soldier: Sario's concerned about Park's call to axe that family last week without notice.

Socks: It wasn't Park's call.  He knew a little too much, .. our names, faces. (litters by flicking the butt of what he was puffing on)

Foot Soldier: Execution-style?  Man, if that was you, somebody's got to let us know because Sario's the connect for that side of Olney.

Socks: Somebody did just let you know.

Foot Soldier: You work alone?

Socks: (pulls gun from under jacket and places it on bench next to him) Nope. Like I said, there are two of us.

Foot Soldier: Okay. (short pause) Looks like we're finished here. (begins to walk from where he came)  Behind the back tire, right?

Socks: Yeah.



The Foot Soldier makes it to the car parked about seventy (70) yards away.  Just as he searches for the suspected package in question, he is shot from behind.  Minutes later, Socks makes a call to d0x, the organization’s technician and business intelligence, presumably to inform him of the ongoings.  The actual meeting took place at 9:00am local time, but Socks told his superiors that it was scheduled for 9:30am.



Socks: (leaning on the side of his car after putting the wounded body of the Foot Soldier in the trunk) Hey, they never showed.

d0x: What?!

Socks: I've been here for like five (5) minutes.  This was only supposed to be a one-minute deal.  These people are making me nervous, man.  I don't even know if we can trust this Mario motherfucker!

d0x: Hm. This is twice this month.

Socks: Did you give him the right place?

d0x: Yes! Coordinates back in Cobbs Creek, like we said.

Socks: Well, the motherfucker ain't here!  This could be some sort of an ambush or something.  I'm moving out.

d0x: Meet at the barbershop on 38th & Lansdowne.

Socks: Bet.  I'm going to grab something to eat.  I'll be there in twenty (20).

d0x: Make it ten (10).



Socks closes the call, opens his driver-side door, gets in the car, and drives off.  We are to believe that he killed the Foot Soldier, placed his dead body in the trunk, and has stolen the loot.

- End Scene 1 {Eden's Cobby} -

- Act 1: The Four Horseman [prologue]
- Act 2: ballad for a thug
- Act 3: hallucinating from hallucinogens leads to hallucination [crescendo]
- Act 4: calvary of Hades or whatever you call it
- Act 5: Good Friday is very bad^~ [denouement]~~ This is where the opera derives its title. Alcohol is arguably the main character in this part, and it's the detective's abuse of it (his "elixir" as he calls it) that has to die in order for him to finally be able to accept his reality (one must and will kill the other). Easter🐰🐣 (a synonym of "Pascha", his middle name) represents the theme of a rebirth/renaissance (which is prevalent throughout the entire opera), so to speak. There is an incidental religious (Christianity) undertone here, considering that his name is Joseph/John, and these events happen near Easter (actually on Good Friday) in Philadelphia, but that's unintentional and certainly not stressed.
- Act 6: dirty shirt
- Act 7: the phoenix rises from its own ashes
- Act 8: Pillowsoft [epilogue]

Discussion

This channel is for public messages. Constructive feedback from you, the Community, is encouraged. Respect your audience, remember that real humans are involved. Anonymity is allowed, but replies are considered as customer care only to backers with a verified social profile.
The following is an open question (Q) / comment (C) and answer (A) format organized by topic, many of which (119) may be anticipatory. Avoid redundancy by reading the entire statement before submitting your input.
//general (34+3)
//production (21)
//financial (31)
//technology (30)

public queries submitted and (possibly) responded to
due diligence

UUe: first-to-market solver of polypeptide malforms (eg. Parkinson's, Alzheimer's/diabetes, Huntington's, EBV, cancer🎗) → mathmod for rational design, enhanced compute pipeline, mobile-centric, opensource, perpetual dev, huge nums.
C: Bets.
A: My bets are: (1) that research-to-market time for legal/regulated drug development can be reduced by at least half (12 years → 6 years) with this utility [UUe.i], and (2) streaming will dominate media delivery for the forseeable future by the Year 2022.

Q: Is this (Easter™) a take on the biblical story of the resurrection of Jesus Christ?
A: No. While there is a certain level of allegorical religiosity (themes of the opera lend themselves to my interpretation of the Books of Revelation+Genesis - and to a smaller extent, traces of Greek mythology) teasing the storyline+nomenclature, this work has little if anything to do with that holiday.
Q: Who is the leader [principal investigator] in-charge of this proof?
A: Me, 🧑🏿lnq (project creator). {This is also the answer to the question: what is the name of the 'production company' behind this project? -- Keep in mind that this is a community venture; the opensouce nature of which makes it largely decentralized.}
Q: How do I subscribe to your magnificent YouTube channel for updates?
A: Excellent choice!👌 → https://www.youtube.com/linkstarbureiy

C: Establish permissions.
A:

It's perfectly legal. The U.S. Copyright Act of 1976^[i], particularly Chapter 3 of Circular 92, in tandem with [a], [b], [c] qualify preparation of a derivative work (ie. gaiden) from a musical angle (more succinctly, polemical allusions minus the satire, with ambition/intent on perpetually creating value (however, non-retail) and thus dodging the 'parody' label). Even if the permit were to be rescinded (it won't), this is - according to fair use doctrine [Section 107] - pursuant of an original work (intermezzi: chords N-H) that falls under the categories of scholarship and research*. Standard stuff.Per interest in Parkinson's, Huntington's, and Alzheimer's diseases (an umbrella for neuropathological studies involving macromolecular science).
Because this is a transformative phonorecord (in this case, a soap opera serial with opus structure), the same copyright law in this context supersedes and supplements Dial Press, the publishing imprint for H. Rap Brown's autobiography^[r] [ISBN 978-1-55652-452-3] (on which some subject material is loosely based), allowing me to use certain facsimiles as I see to it, however faithful. More concretely, I am granted definite statutory custodianship from the estate of Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin to reuse said material. (see also legal stuff, copyleft)
Recap: Any literature published in the U.S. prior to 1976/1978 is subject to fair use laws regardless of copyright extensibility. This species - an opera - qualifies as transformative, thereby permitting derivative performance(s). Also, because this work (of authorship) is attached to scholarship and scientific/medical⚕️ research for purposes of public benefit, it may be exempt from illegality classification.
Q: Where is this manufactured?
A: I am headquartered in Montana, but can also be physically present in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Mississippi, and Florida (or anywhere for that matter) for cinematogaphy, as needed. The bulk of proof dev happens online by a great many people worldwide.

picture of a park in Missoula, Montana
[photo courtesy of Robin Poole]

Q: Will there be sequels?
A: To the opera itself, no. The prelude, DD, is intended to conclude the 'John' saga. It is immediately followed by chords N, O, A, and H. By the end of the fourth chord, H, the 'Joseph' canon is completed as was insinuated. Chronology-wise, I split the opera into two parts (Opus Zaphnath=prelude, Opus Paaneah=postlude), where the prelude, Die, Detective!, happens during Palm Sunday - highlighting Parkinson's, and the remaining four chords (postlude) conclude on Easter Sunday - highlighting a medley of other neurodegenerative diseases.
Q: Is this a motion picture?
A: It's technically a live action opera that is recorded using a virtual camera system.
Q: How is this an opera?
A: If for no other reason, it is an opera because it is comprised of more than one opus (Opus Zaphnath [DD] and Opus Paaneah [chordsN-H]).🙃 We define (an) 'opera' to be: a program (of opus numbers) whose score/libretto is subject to arrangement. Similar to its musical counterpart, this means that a bunch of smaller pieces were conducted on set and outputted a cinematic.
To assuage any concerns, no one breaks out into song in this. Still, Easter doesn't deviate far from the classical artform.
This format is new media and exists because the challenge of using an artificial intelligence (ai) to bear on the molecular dynamics of protein folding requires that we first break the molecule down into lots of smaller pieces (preimages) before or so that we can compute its structure in relation to other chemicals. Being that doing so is an enormous computational undertaking, gathering the necessary processor power and network bandwidth from a distributed framework (ie. 'crowd') is crucial to performing said tasks (running an MMO of any type in the cloud is especially complex). With today's polyplexity devices (typically, binocular rendering on phone+eyeset) available, it's easy to get people to pay attention to one thing (entertainment) while simultaneously allowing another (data processing) in the background. To accomplish this, we would need to have the user lend us their computing resources for a substantial amount of time. Voila!, (hashing) the opera rewards quantity (length).

When we stereoscope (3D in 360 degrees) something, we are essentially viewing it in truespace. The difference between a movie and an opera is how each is projected. While both contain theatrics, a movie is literally a projection to a (2D-3D) screen, whereas an opera may be totally immersive (ie. camera space defined relative to volume). -- It sitting in murky definition waters is also how we can get away with not being unionized.😉

[just a web-snatched generic image for demonstration, not actual footage]

The way my aunt bottom lines it is that this would be the poor man's equivalent of a soap opera. 'Soaps' were first presented over the radio before the invention of the television medium, and got their name from the soap companies being the primary advertisers that sponsored them, and thus, floated the show.^[h] They are long-term stories, and have to be treated as such (ask your grandmother which of today's soaps was her mother's favorite show?). Well, the 'soap companies' in this regard are sets of voxel datapoints generated from advertisements (example: {blue,bottle,liquid}, {square,box,powder}, {solid,beige,lamp}, etc.) intelligently blended into a roving (ie. available to a random walker) scene. The main difference being that the hash opera has intrinsic start and stop markers. Hence, we need a specific camera system to augment virtuality (for studying eye movements). -- I bet that the opera was the past, and will again be the future of entertainment showcasing, where once retired cine works will get the so-called 'opera' treatment in this fertile emerging market. (compare soap opera, see also hash opera)
Q: Um, is this a video game?
A: Not really. Kinda. Sorta. Well, I did manage to gamify the production procedures for developers (ie. do this ⇒ win this🥕), but the opera ludo itself is not a proper videogame (at least that is not what it set out to be). While it does have interactive elements [ie. decision tree, text-input / chat environment, dialog box, map interface, an open world vcs] in its medium to advance the story, those are not centered around video gameplay.

Think of Easter as a 'graphical libretto', albeit one that plays like a MUD. A requisite for this opera is the holographic computing form factor of 'polyplexity [PP]' (= augmented reality [AR]+virtual reality [VR]); directive: in order to help train the ai (with machine learning over a neural network), the user will find clues [live realtime preimages] as holograms super-imposed onto realworld physical spaces in the AR component that have extensibility in the VR continuum, where the eye is tricked with stereoscopy as a means to generate three-dimensional random walks.

By definition (and this is a stretch), console-based video games require a 🕹️joystick/controller🎮 for input. Neither one of those is necessary for interacting with this MUD, just your 📱smartphone and maybe a peripheral keypad⌨️.

Keeping in mind that our camera is itself a character in a persistent openworld, we consider its style of interactivity (juking) to be an innovation in tensor analysis and random walking. .. If you must know, pertaining to specific aspects like design language, I was, to some extent, influenced by Westwood Studios' Blade Runner (1997) (one of the greatest pieces of digital art ever created, in my opinion).
C: COMPETITORS/COMPARABLES

complementary parallel programs

Folding@home: A major disease research project developed out of Stanford University in the Year 2000 that simulates molecular dynamics and protein folding (among other computational chemistry objectives) using distributed computing. Its development scheme is proprietary, desktop operating environment-specific, and, as a result, has a limited user base (less than 300,000).

Foldit: An experimental research project from the labs (David Baker, Seth Cooper) of University of Washington that plays as a video game in a browser, where players get the chance to optimize an already studied protein. The rationale is that scientists can then use strategies provided by gamers to better fold proteins with current technologies. Some participants have gotten the opportunity to have their 'work' published in reputable journals. --#TeamEaster--
Q: This comes across like a multitude of projects. Please clarify.
A: Easter is an ambitious large-scale opera ludo that is told in five expansive parts (each part and their hashings - effectively dominoes - get expanded upon inductively) called chords. The prelude of this opera is, 'Die, Detective!'. Since we are doing one thing at a time, Die, Detective! is what is currently underway for recording. The plan is to have the other four (4) chords (N, O, A, H) successively released in similar fashion.

In terms of the amount of activity in this opera, there are a few intra-opera technology targets🎯 that we aim to hit, but these are supportive (supplemental) and not extracurricular. First and foremost, this is a technology proof; we are constructing a distributed supercomputer for calculating twistorspaces and relative molecular dynamics. In computer-talk, the jukebox, UUe, itself is the server and processor units from users mobile devices are the clients. On the server-end, the bill for energy (electricity) consumption is rather high. In order to help cover the costs, a cinematic is being made that acts, in part, as a research clef (the purpose of this is to draw attention to the medical science by showcasing a subject suffering from the symptoms, ... we're also putting the jukebox - and the concept of juking - on display). This is expected to do big business upon and after its release [lifecycle]. To reiterate, those funds will then be used to pay for server upkeep.

Because this story involves an abundance of military science, warfare theater, exploratory guerrilla tactics, and hypothetical global politics, you can expect a number of position papers related to these topics.
Q: What does the opera's logo mean?
A: It is an illustration of a cracked Easter eggshell, which supposedly represents the oncoming of a new beginning or an awakening. The egg itself is symbolic of birth/death, and can be looked at as the opera's whole arc (circle=all chords).
Q: Why jump into a crime-molded universe?
A: The challenge to image alpha-synuclein came from the MJFF. It's cumbersome nowadays to try and raise lots money from grants; I'd rather stick to my roots and pursue bug bounties. To me, this is a grand ctf🏁. In order to successfully pull off the feat of protein folding prediction, one is going to need substantial computing resources. Gathering that kind of money from a blockbuster to pay for it just made sense to me.

My thinking behind the drama stemmed from answering the question of what a beat-up police officer with a tough spirit would look like in today's America. Pascha's personal plotline in Easter closely follows my life and some of what I have lived through in the past decades-plus being in Montana (two names, the 🍇huckleberry hint, angling on the river, solitude / isolation / small town life, multiple injuries, bouts of probable insanity), and it comes across in the writing. I think the audience can relate to somebody who is genuine, hurting, but really trying. The sedimentary layer of modern civics^[f] on top of that foundation just fits the bill here.

Q: So, basically, what you've done is answer the call of Michael J. Fox to solve the folding structure of a class of proteins, and, because this takes ridiculous amounts of computing power, you're constructing an opensource supercomputer from a network of mobile phones to leverage this... and in the meantime, to cover operational expenses, you've written a terrific topically congruent very entertaining opera (/cinematic) to be viewed at no charge that you hope will pleasantly distract people as the software your team built quietly calculates all of the techno-babble, bio-fizzy stuff in the background... and because you have high confidence that this will work as prescribed, you anticipate it being effective on similar classes of diseases, such as Alzheimer's (NACP), diabetes (in a way, the former is essentially diabetes [Type 3] of the brain^[a]), Huntington's, cancer extrapolations, as well as for computational drug design?
A: Correct✔️.
Q: What is the ISMN with the Library of Congress?
A: ISMN: 979-0-800136-00-9
Q: Explain this operatic phylum.
A: Easter is an opera ludo predicated on hashes.
Q: 🗓️When does the opera debut?
A: April 1, 2018🐣🐰 [libretto📘] (online @this parlor as a stream of frames in its non-cinematic entirety = chords 1-4). The cinematic premiere of chord 1 (at the least) is scheduled throughout 2020+.
Q: Discuss premiere and distribution plans.
A: This will be an embed served from this jukebox page -- any further (metered) theatrical releasing will be played by ear. -- Starting with the overture, a series of extended 2D clips (mini-movies) called 'Easter eggs' will be released (posted on video sharing sites) that touch on important plot points which can further be explored (watch partying?) when experienced in their true form, immersively. Consumers can use their phones to tag (eg. QR code) online content. That could be a tertiary revenue stream that wouldn't take away from our sticker sales.

The opera itself has a lot of replay value, so it will be available for streaming. Supposedly, this practice keeps advertising costs down; ensuring that distribution fees will only have to be paid once.^[ii] -- and even though the notion of record-breaking is an abstract pursuit when it comes to streaming media, I realize that the format rewards quantity, so I'm game.
Q: If you cannot obtain a distribution agreement from a major distributor, is this a hindrance?
A: No. I'm a big fan of self-determination, independent media^[p], and self-publishing. This is an (social+creative) experiment of mine, a project created by me to be exhibited/delivered to the public (direct-to-consumer, subject to licensing). A lack of a distributing partner would not be an impediment; as exorbitant as such costs^[iii] are, it may actually be welcomed in the long-run (such a deal for a 'deliverable' actually wouldn't make any sense at all here because the format is an instant install on your mobile device, as required. That said, it (the heavy lifting) still gets 'distributed' over your mobile phone's wi-fi-data plan; promoted examples: Xfinity Mobile for iPhone vs. Google Fi^[g] for Android, iOS). An organic development mandates that it actually has to be hashed in PP - across mobile devices - because in training the ai we need processors (CPU+GPU) on a network mapping embedded visualizations [ie. geometric computation of tensors derived from framing] while simultaneously streaming (VR vendor: Google Cardboard^[w], Google Daydream^[k]) longform for eye scan mimicry.

Outside of the planned watch partying scheme, pushing this to a theater or opera house first is risky in that consumers may not revisit it again, which defeats the whole purpose. Aside from that, I'm not at all interested in the motion picture ratings game; Die, Detective! is hypothetically (ahem, it's actually NOT RATED) an R+ (for intense sequences) piece, and I won't allow a distributor/studio dictating with scissors what they think is appropriate for me to attain. Therefore, for those reasons, the cinematic elements will be ported to my YouTube channel.

C: … but, but.. not everyone has a VR headset/goggles!
A: Understood. They are pretty easy to get these days, as they are widely available. Cheap, too (a few dollars). To be honest, you won't need VR wearables like goggles/headset, nor are you required to have them, but I reserve the right to keep compatibility an option. 'VR' here only implies a viewport of 360°. If you have a mobile smartphone📱, then you already hold the biggest piece. Since this project has DIY buttress, you can make your own eyeset at the price of materials if you are willing to follow some simple instructions on how to fold paper/cardboard. Upon release of the Easter eggs (and dominoes, even), our audience will be given sufficient notice ahead of time letting them know what equipment they'll need and how to get it. Don't wait, get yours right now!

C: Wait a minute, I thought you were publishing this at no cost (retail value = 0) to the consumer!
A: We are, and can get away with it (outside of a commercial streaming bundle package) because the opera is supported with ads+stickers (but which would not directly be applicable to this work in the sense of them being a type of closed-system revenue generation). This is freemium ware, so if there are add-ons or upgrades that become available, you may have to pay for those. When it comes to making money beforehand (ie. financing), help us out by perusing our Easter Basket.
+1 Q: If you have a buttercup with no butter, what's in the cup?🤔
A: {shrugs shoulders}😉

Photo courtesy ©Astrofame

Q: Why have such a relatively short/limited episodic engagement?
A: Mainly because of the habits people have in consuming media nowadays. I think an opera of this caliber deserves the very best delivery [sound (audio) and visual]. So as to maximize revenue and minimize costs, unless its drop-off won't affect business, the plan is to prepare for releasing the next chord. I certainly will entertain keeping the print promoted until the nut hits the floor if it is breaking records. Plus, the whole opera is very long, so I am splitting the parts up and then release them consecutively (back-to-back).
Q: Where will this be screening roomed*?
A: For something to be 'screening roomed' means that it is presented exclusively to journalists and professional critics so that they can do their job. Die, Detective! will be played separately at a public theater somewhere in Los Angeles, California. This is solely to meet the requirements as stated by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to qualify for Oscar consideration. ← That's just something I have to say. I'm likely going to have dozens of screenings of this all over the place in its limited release, hopefully at least one at the re-opened Uptown Theater in Philadelphia if they can make their schedule.
Q: Under what genre is this classified?
A: It is a neo-noir mystery (with some war and Western overtones). While still styled with constricted action and so forth, the overall setting is moreso placed in an 'underworld' realm. In that sense, it is also a crime drama. {I really want to emphasize this being a 'crime drama', because it will feel at points like a drawn-out episode of your favorite police procedural before its war crescendo. There is so much intrigue here that people who love gangster flicks could go for this.}
Q: What is the duration of this piece?
A: Running time for Die, Detective! (the prelude of a quadrachordal arc) is 720 minutes. The whole opera (prelude plus all four chords, like a "soap opera") is approximately one-hundred sixty-eight hours. That said, due to the interactive nature of the piece, it holds near-infinite playability (in theory).
C: The duration of this is very long. It better be exceptionally good for me to sit through it.
A: It is, but don't take my word for it. And, you don't 'sit' through it, per se; you experience it immersively. Besides, you can always ⏮️skip/fast-forward⏭️ through it when you want (but, you still must piece together clues in order to solve the mystery, though).

Photo courtesy ©Astrofame

Many people have taken issue with this notion. I thought long and hard about how to truncate the storytelling so it seems more commercial and normalized. The truth is that it just can't adequately be told in the typical 2-3 hours like a regular flick. The backstory alone - which bookends the last chord - demands that the characters and history be explored in full, less you risk skipping essential plot points further down the line. Easter's villainy needs to be given a fair evolution. This is an expansive opera that unfolds kinetically; it doesn't simply 'pick up' from some prior immediate action. I really believe that in order to see how this ends, it's imperative to know how it all began.
The last 156 hours (chordsN-H, which cover Easter week) has a temporal correlation (1:1) where one hour of opera time is equivalent to one hour of realtime. Overall, this is about on par with how long it would take to completely finish a fancy openworld MMORGP title.
Let me also reiterate that hashing the opera works best because the processor is rewarded via quantity (ie. duration); the longer your device is engaged with the system, the better it is for the compute. Another concept is that the opera's presentation allows for add-ons and interactivity; in openworld vcs the camera's ai determines that not everybody is viewing the exact same thing (at the same time). The flow is smooth, the action engaging, and I promise you that you will not be bored. You ain't never seen nothing like this before.🤩
C: Share a little info about yourself.
A:

Buckeye legend, 🧑🏿lnq, considers Life to be a game of puzzles (namely Egglepple) for him to solve, as evident by his invention of the jukebox, UUe, and pioneering the craft of juking.

C: I love💕 you.
A: I love me, too.🤪
+1 C: Easter is my favorite holiday.
A: You are not alone.👍🏿 It represents triumph+overcoming, which is (a privy revelation...) what UUe.i is intended for - to be a preliminary step for a cure (regeneration, renewal).
Q: Are you and/or this proof involved with the academic community at-large?
A: The 'community' exists insofar as what others and I can directly respond to in the talk💬/bugs sections. Food for thought: industry typically works way faster - orders of magnitude more quickly - than academia. So, by design, there is contact with perpendicular intelligentsia (ie. universities, think tanks, and so forth) regarding occasional conferencing. Aside from internal jam sessions, let's leave conferences to people who like conferences. I'm trying to get stuff done.

Q: With everything wide open (full disclosure), aren't you worried about somebody stealing your ideas?
A: Not really. To be safe, it's copyrighted (ISMN: 979-0-800136-00-9). Besides, this is such a massive (+expensive) undertaking that I doubt a corporation, even a trillion-dollar (that's "trillion" with a 't') corporation would alone want to shoulder the burden of development (update/expansion packs, anyone?), hosting (energy consumption+infrastructure), and intellectual property management along with insurance policies. Doing so requires major pivoting. Our scale here is on par with a nation-state. Trust me when I say that crowdsourcing this thing is the optimal approach for its long-term trajectory.

Pretty much all development here happens organically in near-real-time, which is hard to replicate when workplace politics are factored. Besides, I more-or-less wrote myself into this opera (fyi, it's actually part of my larger Requiem composition) on numerous levels (eg. I play the character Stu, the 1978 backstory taking place in Philadelphia has to do with me being born in that city in 1979, Theo's biopharma angle - minus the criminality - mirrors to some extent my own work/research), so any civil court will see (and would likely have to rule) that this is an unchallenged,non-plagiarized original work. At best, we welcome others to join our community/consortium/cooperative and participate in its construction. Forking can be put to good use as long as it's for continuing with this proof rather than building something in parallel in order to avoid fragmenting development (~~fragdev~~). Everybody should get a voice, but let's make sure that we're all speaking the same language here. I'm creating a consumer product (public utility) that's for the People; let the market figure out and economize componentry. What it boils down to, ultimately, is getting this out there into the world and moving forwards. 🥧The way I see it, it's about expanding the pie as a whole, not greedily+selfishly growing your own share of the pie. Help out where you can.
Q: Why do you use handwriting in your work?
A: It's a matter of taste. I find it much easier for me to express my ideas when I can scribble. Other people swear by it, but LaTeX is cumbersome.
C: I am having difficulty viewing this page in my browser.
A: It is recommended that you use a non-mobile (ie. desktop mode) web browser for viewing this page/site with fidelity [web search: 'how to view desktop versions of websites on mobile devices']. It was designed for screens of a certain size that accept keypad input, and may not be optimal for your mobile experience. Also, for the love of everything that's good in personal computing, please don't browse with an iPad/iOS🤮, get something classier.
Q: How can my business partner with Easter?
A: With work receipts from the basket. The proof is a cooperative and community-based; the higher volume of shares +/- 🥕carrots owned, the bigger your ROI.

//production

🏁ctf

how we work

Optimize the proof. adjectives: highly-collaborative with a premium placed on helping each other succeed. Move fast, be prolific, improvise, and stay audience-obsessed. -- Review dailies, then, after ideas/concerns are fleshed-out, ship. // Share my vision of a smart+able world. Capture the flag🏁. Don't be a luser.

Be mindful that we are in a competitive space. 🥕Carrots are offered as incentives; the more earned, the bigger your share of the bounty prize. In a technocracy, top performers are the most agile. Participants from informatics competitions (eg. Topcoder, HackerRank, h1, DEFCON, Code Jam, ioi) and math competitions/courses (eg. Putnam, IMO, MCM/ICM, Math 55^h) will settle in well here with our ctf🏁 approach [carrots-for-flags|🏁→🥕]. {I reckon the IQ around here is insane.🤢}

Before building anything, design your spec. Time spent not doing something right equals time spent doing it over. Our work must scale, so proper architecture is critical to function.

traction bar

Stage: in development

The team has secured contracts enabling rapid forward progress on its dev schedule.
Concept → Prototype → Production → Delivery

streaming August 2021

roadmap+stickiness

Crowds provide a barometer for public interest.

suc* ^$5k

suc= startup costs
- we are rabbiting🥕 to finance the preliminary objective of subsidizing industrial electricity usage at basic levels (@2,500/month), in addition to any unexpected costs (doubled for precaution). Doing this will plateau the upstart to where it becomes self-sustainable. Because of its extensive framework (duration: 168 hours), Easter is expected to generate an extraordinary amount of electricity.

use of proceeds

+ 🔌Power grid
The way this works is that data gets served from phones back to the jukebox (essentially a network of servers). The more jukers are on the network (ie. phones distributed across the platform), the heavier the workload (hashing/threading). Processors are what tax the server (and hence the network), leading to an increase in power consumption. As more people join the MMO, the electricity usage grows exponentially. You get the point.

An advantage that we have on our side is that the jukebox is invoiced by the state of Montana, where average rates for industrial consumers are in the bottom tier [rank: 48/50] (a net positive). To illustrate this, we reference information from electritylocal.com:

usage 5.1¢/kWh
base monthly bill ^$2,439

The project is definitely not average. We expect our user base to grow - thus diversifying the thread intake, but not be so large that it exceeds power generation.

internal communications, externalized
how to join, what to expect once onboard, and so forth

You're already hired. Help with Easter.

Q: Is this a self-organized, mass-collaborative, commons-based opensource proof, also known as a peer production?
A: Yes, it is, and arguably the largest of its kind. You are more than welcome to 🥕contribute. Be mindful that although we believe in common 'openness', you still have to keep some secrets (my vision will not be contaminated); this is to say that there shall remain limited bureaucracy - I am in charge. Functionally, what this means is that while there does exist a democratic plugin architecture where freedom of speech is valued, consensus is under the hierarchy of my autonomy, and participants🐇 work more-or-less for reputation+credit/attribution in the realm of citizen science. By default, peer productions are not unionized.
We'll use opensource tools (eg. Blender, GNU Octave, GIMP, Audacity, etc.) wherever possible, although I'm still a fan of Windows.😀
Q: Do all of the proof developers know each other?
A: Unlikely. This is being worked on by a hired crew in addition to thousands of 🥕🐇contributors worldwide, each with varying levels of ability, experience, and backgrounds. To a certain extent, we may be familiar with one another's work by reputation, but are mostly meeting for the first time in new territory.

debugging🐛, tools/workflow

--Project management inspired by the worker (you).-- All we're pretty much doing is pushing/pulling files: plain text (math), images, and code. Optionally store commits on Github. Everyone has permission.

Docs+Sheets are a workaround solution for a TeX macro. Programmers should focus on pseudocode before delivery. As long as you declare your variables, the community can follow along and port that code. executions, triggers, etc. are allowed right inside the app.

Paint 3D logo Need a rasterizer or an on-the-fly modeler (.3mf)? Try Paint 3D and share your creations.

Q: I would like to contribute to development but am unsure of how to proceed. Can you help me get started?
A: All development is organic: can you do the job, and will you do it here?
Q: Using this method(ology), are you worried about the quality of output?
A: To be honest, I am somewhat apprehensive, but the only way to really know if something is going to work is to just do it. The way I look at it is that if the technology functions as advertised, then the rationale behind the paradigm is valid. A polymath-styled proof such as this is bound to create+expose flaws along the way, and this is a good thing. An eventuality is that mass collaboration will rise the creme to the top, as only the most devoted (and knowledgeable) persons will forge ahead. In our technocracy (almost by definition), we have in place enough checkpoints (ie. reputable participants, luminaries) to knock any sour threads awry, thus balancing 🥕🐇rabbit efforts with their paid counterparts.
Q: When do I receive my 🥕carrot prize?
A: A carrot🥕 (a quantitative point system quantum) is the award given upon thread closure🔏. If you are a winner (it'll be pretty obvious in accordance with the thread, it's whomever makes the most ¢ents), I'll notarize your achievement at the bottom of the thread for posterity after closing🔒 it (closed🔒 threads are not eligible for re-opening🔓). 🥕Carrot tallies give the prize-granting committee(s) a decent metric as to who did what and how much of a contribution they made, which, is, fair to assume, how those organizations (even if that organization is me, in which case, I'll GPay or PayPal you) determine the amount of their disbursement. SUPER IMPORTANT: Please note that your reward is for a share of the offered bounty prize only (pre-release), not any of the revenues that come once the utility is operational (post-release). This is not 'revenue sharing'. (see UUelcome License)
Q: I keep winning. What do you expect me to do with all these 🥕carrots?
A: Good for you! (that's actually good for everybody, really) Congratulations, by the way, on this embarrassment of riches. What you have been doing is accumulating weight that has value in our prize structuring. My expectation is for you to keep on keeping on. 🥕Rabbiting may be viewed as an audition for prospective employers.
Q: How can I audition for a role?🎭
A: There are a number of roles for actors to audition. Not every role is open; some are (already) hand-picked by staff and thus not open for reasons that are out of your control. We try to pick from the local (Philadelphia, Montana, etc.) talent pool as much as possible. Before applying, you should know what role(s) you are wanting. Although there isn't too much information available regarding the character, a short description has been provided as a rubric. That said, most importantly, all the staff is looking for is your ability to act and take direction. All casting selections are made off tape. When submitting your bio, please send quality photography of yourself from the waist up and in good lighting. If using a phone, have someone else take the picture (of you) for you. Two portraits of you will do: a smiling pic and a non-smiling pic.

For those interested in graduating from 🥕🐇rabbit to paid staffer, I suggest that you continue to add weight by contributing with thoughtful and helpful commits. I have top-level say on development, so, if I like what I see, you may be offered benefits*. Communications may be considered responsive, but only insofar as mutuality exists.Could be spotted cash or some other kind of gift.
Q: How long⏳ should my demo reel be?
A: Ideally, a demo reel will not exceed one-hundred seconds (100 seconds [~1.5 minutes]). You may read a prepared piece (such as a monologue) of your choosing.
/// If you are promoting yourself on popular video-sharing sites (eg. YouTube), please use the hashtag: #Easteropera.
Q: Why are you only shortlisting education programs/technique departments? Stop being such a snob.
A: lol. I'm not picking favorites. The top schools are the top programs for a reason. They offer the most thorough (maybe not the 'best') training. We want talent that is ready to 'go' from the jump. When a production of this caliber is even mentioned, the bigger the applicant pool is not always merrier, so imposing a lower limit on a bucket draw tends to work favorably for the casting director. Still, departments across the country aren't differentiated by too much, and so any graduate (even a minor in related studies will suffice) is welcomed to apply. (psst! I also strongly consider alumni of avant-garde groups/experimental companies/improv houses.👈)

On the drama-side, our thespians need to have awareness of their set surroundings at all times during performance. Actors must be able to hit their marks, just like they would in a traditional live theater setting. Unlike a typical movie, where the performer can coast off of unlimited takes, in VR (a 360° stage), the camera is the most important set prop, so things like timing and knowing your cues are of a premium. Sought are people with ample experience in this.
Kool schools from which talent is aggressively recruited by me for this project: {engineering/science} UWashington, Stanford, CalTech, CMU, Princeton || {drama} The Ohio State University😊, American Conservatory Theater, Yale, Juilliard, NYU || {fine arts} CalArts, Ringling, Academy of Art University (San Francisco), California State Universities, CCAD (Columbus), Blender workshops. I'll also admit that there are some very talented high schoolers out there.
Q: What camera is used?
A: Pixel* or similar quality Android-based [handset] plus (depending on the perspective and what information/data needs are) device enhancements (ie. Moment, Xenvo Pro, Laowa Probe, and/or Google Jump lens).Camera rated the highest in its class.^[x][y][z]

Yeah, we're shooting it with a phone📱 (= chipset+camera+networking protocols)! All you really need to pull something like this off is a camera (sensor) with a phone (network), and modern smartphones are the perfect fit, obviously. The choice was made early on to go with a handset instead of a camcorder, like (considered) RED MONSTRO 8K VV or Arri Alexa. The latter cameras offer a great range of abilities, but I want this to have a real-time strategic feel and look of emergent telepresence (ie. the camera just happened to be there), which in some regard meant photographing on mobile and leveraging the benefits of the form factor. Even in the flashbacks (told in the first person/interior) - which I wanted to limit - the shifts in point of view are kept to a minimum due to the interactive elements.

++The Pixel family (or rather, its built-in software, especially Google Daydream) is astonishing in that it can compute loads of similar information (eg. image sensor processing) in all types of light settings (outside/natural, indoor/artificial, dark, and graded) on par (in my opinion) with the big rigs. Plus, it plays well with Tensorflow - which is great for applying machine learning to facial recognition in 360° photography.

As an illustrator/editor, I do a lot of my heavy lifting in post [tools: Blender (effects), DaVinci Resolve (correcting/mastering), Catalyst (preparation)], anyway. Toss in the fact that the workflow pipeline utilizes Google Cloud, it makes a lot of sense to stick with a single supplier (preferred technology vendor) whenever possible.

Q:Which text editor do you use?
A: I prefer Notepad. Don't sleep on VS Code.💪 Apps Script (GAppS) is pretty cool, too.
Q: When does recording commence?
A: Once we have the camera software (virtual camera system) ready, which should happen immediately after pre-production [along with rehearsals]. This is estimated to last until we finish (wrap = whenever if all of the chords are recorded back-to-back), and can be extended for reshoots as necessary. Due to the nature of the production, no set shooting schedule can be confirmed.
It is important to note that filming is commensurate with funding. Non-principal photography (ie. the overture) begins with a series of standalone mixtapes as well as adverts featuring Ric Flair, which are to be disbursed over the course of a year.
Q: Where does recording take place?
A: Principal photography (+second unit photography) will be shot on location in Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania, and in-and-around Butte, Montana, depending on the needs. Butte (and possibly another locale) can serve as a backdrop for Philadelphia since they have residential neighborhoods that share similar architecture to those in southeastern Pennsylvania. And also - in addition to some of the tax incentives the State of Montana offers filmmakers - because Butte has a large Irish community (which itself plays a substantial role in this piece).

These locales aren't coincidences. Montana is home, and it's easier to some degree for me to stay close to it. It's also good for business, as the state was rated tops in the nation for upstarts in 2014 and 2015. Combine that with low utility costs and lenient taxes, this is the place for me to be. Not thinking about myself for a second, when putting this together, my mind was on a particular family member who lives in Philadelphia and was going through some stuff. An extended stay in Philly gave me an excellent excuse to be with them ... and go to The Dell😉. As far as scouting locations go, since East Philly doesn't exist, other large American cities can be a nice substitute. Plus, I had to settle my nerves.

Q: Is this a unionized (eg. Screen Actor's Guild-adherent) production?
A: Absolutely not. By definition, the open nature of peer-producing is incompatible with unionization.
Q: If I am part of (have membership in) a worker's union (eg. SAG-AFTRA), can I participate?
A: Possibly. It's up to you.

... though, for your own safety and peace of mind, you are warned that any so-called union that requires membership dues with no guaranteed path to employment is a pyramid scheme. Use critical thinking.

original video location: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1MrqKyjPIh4
SAG-AFTRA is a scam!!

Labor unions are democratic relics of the New Deal and exist to regulate some thing. They can be beneficial to the 'little guy' who is just starting out (by guaranteeing a livable wage), but are a pest to larger organizations. You've got to eat, I get it. I can work with the contract that you have drawn up [maybe even honoring/matching sheet rates - but no other terms - supplied by SAG

or AEA ("Equity"), assuming that you are a dues-paying member], but don't count on me unionizing my whole production* (a requirement of the union) just to feed you. The legal way around that is to treat you as a temporary employee, and have you NOT REPORT those earnings to your guild, only to the IRS. Both parties (even the AFL-CIO) have to report this information to Uncle Sam, anyway. Basically, you become an independent contractor [1099]. Standard stuff.lawfully compliant (insured, fair labor practices, etc.).
The other tidbit is for me, the employer, to have insurance, which most jurisdictions insist on, anyhow, because they're taking a calculated risk hosting an endeavor (ie. a big budget production will likely spend those funds, meaning that the locality or parts therein will need to be underwritten somehow). Think about it like this (hypothetical): I have a planned project. Two performers come to me looking for work. One is a freelancer with no experience, but loaded with natural talent. The other is a talentless unionized hack with a pretty face. She can obviously help sell the project in her own way, but the freelancer can also help, and all he wants is the chance to work on set for some pizza🍕 slices. There's no way I'm unionizing the production just because of her, when I could just hire some other babe who understands the deal*. A box of pizza and some cheap insurance policy, or the extra expense of dealing with bloated collective bargaining agreements? You do the math.Contracts usually come with pay. (see also benefits package, inactivating your status^[SAG]^[AEA])
benefit alert!😀: location-based workers may also receive a player option and an incentive clause (ie. bonus) depending on performance in relation to their contract.
C: Help! This is a fantastic opportunity, but my union is bullying me into not working.
A: If you are interested in inactivating your status (ie. putting yourself on temporary hiatus "Honorable Withdraw","Temporary Withdraw") with your theatrical union, namely SAG and/or AEA, follow these otherwise intentionally hard-to-find steps (as written in their fine print):
- Screen Actors Guild → https://www.sagaftra.org/maintaining-your-membership
- Actors' Equity Association → https://actorsequity.org/join/TW-SP/
Q: Are children allowed on set?
A: Unless a child is part of the production (eg. as an actor), they, like anyone else not on payroll, should not be on set. Children - especially small children - are considered hazardous/a safety risk and not welcomed on set at any time during production.
Q: Are drugs and/or alcohol allowed on set?
A: No. My set is a substance-free workplace. Employees are prohibited from possessing, using, or being under the influence of controlled substances in the workplace. Violating this policy subjects the employee to termination of employment. Manufacturing and/or distributing illegal drugs (anywhere) can result in that person being reported to authorities. Say "No" to drugs.

Q: Are pets allowed on set? Can I bring my pet to work?
A: No. Please keep your pet(s) at home. If any animal is on set, it is likely that they are being handled by a hired professional handler.
Q: How is the script delivered?
A: The libretto (script) is available on this page for your convenience (take a look!), so use your mobile phone. ie. you should have your phone with you during rehearsals. For sensitive realtime collaboration needs, I advise that we stick with Discord.
Q: Does the script call for any nudity?
A: Nope. Proudly, no one's physical privacy will be compromised during this production.

Q: In the context of worker's compensation, what does 'spot-paid' wellness imply?
A: This option means that I am willing to directly pay (ie. with cash💵) your health provider for their general non-rolling services (U.S. Citizens on location only); have them invoice me, there is no need to draw on your own insurance policy. I will pay out-of-pocket for your local gym membership, as well as doctor/hospital visits that are the verifiably the result of your work done while on set (ie. accidents).

//financial

fiscal-related stuff
ways you can pledge
OFFERING CIRCULAR/if you contribute with your wallet, what is likely to come of it

Fun fact: Back in the days before there existed a polio vaccine, researchers would send around tin cans and hats soliciting the public for coins to help sponsor their research. Ultimately with enough funds, that disease is on its way to being fully eradicated. Well, we're doing something similar here with modern online 🥕crowdfunding.
Q: Who or what is a 'backer'?
A: In crowdfunding, someone who financially supports an entrepreneur (ie. project creator) at the earliest stages of a commercial endeavor on its path to being production-ready is a backer. These persons are entitled to optional benefits such as perks, exclusive access, shareholding (when/where available), etc..

Go ahead, back this and take the ride! It's worth it.🐱‍🏍

Q: Must I be sophisticated to participate?
A: This general solicitation is open to everyone. Professional investor credentials (self-reported) are not required.
Q: May companies/large organizations invest, or is this only geared towards individuals?
A: Anyone and everyone can participate, so, yes, please do. Registered businesses (eg. corporations, LLCs, mutual funds, etc.) should expect to be treated slightly differently for tax purposes because of federal taxation rules, but other than that, the sky is blue for all who look up.
Q: How is the float legitimate?
A: This raise relies on a mix of public funds and private donors, and, as such, is not actively seeking any qualifications under SEC lending rules (especially since we desire "granny giving" [ie. flexible, non-accredited, non-bank/non-mezzanine sourcing] seed money not in excess of the reportable 12-month min./max. stated in Regulation A^[c]). We note that provisions of the JOBS Act (particularly Title III) applied here would not necessarily be asymmetrical, meaning that there is no convertibility to trigger a call for an audit of financial statements. [Assurance: all such underwriting activities adhere to and are compliant with federal rules+regulations of the United States of America, and state-wide statutes of Montana.]

This proof is attached to my main work (ie. UUelcome/Easter), which is a recital for puzzle-solving, thus holding me further accountable and ensuring my fiduciary duty to protect the project from potential liabilities. An illegitimate endeavor probably wouldn't shoulder such responsibility. As always, do your research before remittance. If you have any related questions, submit them in the talk💬 section.
Q: What is the name of the company/security issuer in which I would be investing?
A: "Link Egglepple Starbureiy"^[b]. This is a sole proprietorship (my full name), sometimes doing business as 'LES' (my initials) in the State of Montana. Please note that Easter (the banner under which funds are raised) is just a project/product and not a separate entity.
Q: Are you selling equity?
A: Perhaps (when+where available). To be clear, though, we are not offering a tradeable asset that may be held long-term. Our equity crowdfunding is punctual, but only in a limited capacity (ie. gathering seed funds meeting the maximum allowance of $1,000,000 @ $10,000 per contributor - unless they are accredited, in which case they are authorized to contribute with no limitation). Any contribution will ultimately translate to a small percentage [share] of profits for this special project. Doing so otherwise (indefinite total denomination) would automatically privatize the endeavor, thereby jeopardizing its status as a public utility and setting up a conflict of core interests. Therefore, our raise is a mix of shareholding and eleemosynary (+pledges).
Q: Is a FINRA-registered funding portal used here?
A: No. Experience has shown us that these 'firms' are volatile (often with no proven record of steady performance or commitment) and come and go out of business (they themselves need investment, go figure!). A cost/benefit analysis done by Sherwood Neiss et al. points to crowdfunds costing - on average - upwards of $39,000 on administrative+service fees alone for every $100,000 raised under SEC rules.^[v] Furthermore, their vetting process and money-handover periods are far too long considering that the Community is already active. In lieu of this, we have filed a crowdfunding exemption from the State of Montana, use an over-the-counter payment processor, while retaining the option to deal with a broker, as needed.
Q: Do I need a (stock) broker in order to purchase shares?
A: No, we're actually trying to avoid that; selling (when+where available) directly to the crowd normalizes supply+demand without encumbrance that could hinder shareholding efficiency. Our method is an over-the-counter transaction between you and I utilizing a web-based payment processor. The entire process is automated/automatic, and you will be printed a digital receipt for your records.
Q: Will a certain number of shares secure a board seat?
A: There is no such thing as board membership (ie. access to executive oversight) in relation to this project/product/proof. Each stake (when+where available) is treated equally, though major stakeholders are considered part of the consortium. The only advantage one shareholder may have over another is their potential earnings.
Q: Are you seeking debt?
A: No.

Q: What is 'seed money'?
A: In financing, seed money is very early stage investment funds that can assist the venture (usually a qualified upstart like this one) until it becomes self-sustaining. Think of it like a seed that is planted in dirt before flowering.
Q: When do you plan on disclosing tax returns and audited financials?
A: Filed Form 990 - Schedule L (stating revenue accrued for at least one quarter) will be posted as due. For everyone's cheer, though, probably on a regular quarterly basis.
Q: When can I expect a return-on-investment (ROI)/When do I get my money?
A: Thirty (30) days after the stream is formally released (live) and first profits are counted (if applicable). -- There is no cashing out early.
Q: Is this a non-profit venture?
A: Umm.. it's public benefit. We are definitely in this to make money, but the bulk of those monies (ad revenue) are promised to maintaining the technology that fosters opportunities for biomedical innovation. As far as the IRS is concerned, this project is not chartered as 501(c); there is no organization to speak of in which to exempt tax (however, a voluntary Form 990 will be published to demonstrate earnings). I, personally, will pay my fair share of taxes (from revenues gained via my sole proprietorship [LES]), but again, the intention is to spread some of the wealth to friendly cooperatives that are actively advancing the cause.
Q: Am I/Would I be investing in a drug?
A: No. I am not manufacturing any tangible items here, and certainly not a product that requires approval from the Food and Drug Administration or a private insurer, nor something that will be distributed on a black market. The end result of this project is a build of an industrial-class computer system that may be used by those who design pharmaceuticals (namely third-party companies, such as Biogen, Pfizer, Amgen, Bayer AG, Eli Lilly, etc.).
Q: From where are the monies (pot) for the purported $6million bounty coming?
A:

Two sources. The Michael J. Fox Foundation^@ solicited a $2M bounty for imaging the protein, alpha-synuclein, with a PET tracer*. In addition, the Oskar Fischer Project (under fiduciary James Truchard) offers a total of $4million ($2million grand prize + two second place prizes of $500,000/each + four third place prizes of $250,000/each) for proofs of 'new ideas' and insight into the innerworkings of Alzheimer's disease. Tallied, that sum would be $2million + $4million = $6million. It is important to note that each prize comes with its own set of rules for winning and claiming. That news may be to the ire and chagrin of some, but rules are rules. At the very least, we are aiming to make substantial progress on the above problems, solving and winning lots of smaller marks along the way.No formal or suggested affiliation. Prize rules established by the MJFF specifically state that the solution to a tracer, if found, be made broadly available to academic and industry researchers.
Q: Is the purchase of goods a secure🔐 transaction?
A: Yes. This webpage and parent website are PCI-compliant, so your business is safe. The payment processing is handled on the frontend by PayPal. Some processing schemes may utilize the Stripe API on their backend.
Q:Monies raised go where exactly?
A: Into financing and supporting the project at all stages, but especially where ramping up operations and continued research+development can flourish. Foremost, we are building a distributed supercomputer mostly from the ground up. All of that information (which grows exponentially) from clients must be fed back to the jukebox which serves it, so there is a need for server upkeep+reliability. Also used are cloud computing vendors for data backup+preservation, their services are an expense.

{There are no dealings with banks; all financing comes directly from the crowd.}

TRACTION

evidence of revenue stream

📊📈Network observation

+ Ad traffic (Google AdSense analytics for uuelco.me)
Page RPM [floor - ceiling, with daily fluctuation]: ^$0.00 - 37.49 (rule-of-thumb: average is ~1 cent/impression)
Post count: ~11,500
Average page views/day: 23.5k
Unique site visitors/month: ~850k+

Note (+): This graphic only shows the refreshed start of a new cycle, that's why the 'Clicks', 'Page views', and 'Impressions' values are low.

glossary lite

+ Understanding ad lingo (Ads 101🍎)
Most creatives markets (ad buying+selling) can be sufficiently reduced to the following six metrics:
- page views: a page view is just that, how many times a page of interest (with a displayed ad) is viewed. Regardless of how many ad units are on the page itself, what gets reported is the actual page count as a multiple of 1.
- impressions: an impression is counted for each ad requested that gets served to some page. So, hypothetically, a page can serve multiple ads, say three (3). Thus, that page counts three served impressions.
- page RPM: Page RPM is the revenue generated per 1000 impressions. For example, if you earned $0.30 from sixty (60) page views, then your page RPM would equal ($0.30/60) * 1000, or $5.00.
- clicks: Clicks are counted as the number of times a user selects ('clicks') an ad unit.
- CPC: CPC is cost-per-click, the amount earned each time a user clicks on an ad. This value is always negotiable; the price is determined by how much an advertiser is willing to spend to buy that ad.
- page/ad CTR: CTR is a click-through-rate, as measured by the number of ad clicks divided by the number of page views (clicks/views). For example, if you received 6 clicks for 300 page views, your page CTR would be 6/300 = 0.2%.

path to profitability

It all comes down to placing a number of ad units on a page which can increase the probability that those impressions will monetize that page due to sufficient audience traffic and volume of inventory. Here, we can expect a robust ecosystem of contextual ads based on the range of threads stemming from the proof itself and 🎨concept art, in particular.

Posts hosted on uuelco.me may be monetized. Some posts are more popular than others (either be it because they carry-on a conversation in the talk section of the page, contain multimedia versus those that don't, or are just flat-out more interesting). This makes a difference in how the automated ad network to which we subscribe serves ads to specific pages; the system queries session metadata to guess which ads are relevant to a viewer/searcher, resulting in ads that may be about cars, dating, medications, tv shows/movies .. all the way to home alarm gadgets, holiday shopping, and the whole gamut of retail. The algorithm depends on what content is on the page, keywords, page rank, and user impressionability. So, it's hard to quantify how much revenue is or can be generated on any given month, but, it is easy to see that the more posts/threads that are published, the more upwards the revenue stream.

🧀fund

C: INDUSTRY+MARKET ANALYSIS

industry competition and analysis
historical perspective

The global film industry is projected to reach nearly ^$50 billion in 2020.^[i] In the year 2016, the global box office reached ^$38.6 billion in ticket sales, up 1% from 2015. The North American (U.S./Canada/Mexico) box office (^$11.4 billion) grew 2% while the international box office (^$27.2 billion) was flat-year-over year. Over 1.3 billion tickets were sold during this period in the North American market alone, with more than two-thirds (71%) of the U.S./Canada population – or 246 million people – going to see a movie at least once in 2016.^[ii] The United States is the leading film market worldwide with over ^$10.14 billion in gross box office revenue (2016). China is the second largest film market with over ^$7.46 billion in gross box office revenue (2016). In terms of ticket sales, however, the U.S. is the third largest film market, selling about 1.2 billion tickets in the year 2016, trailing China (1.25 billion) and India (2.3 billion).

Digital home entertainment (ie. streaming services, video on-demand, digital downloads, etc.) has recently surpassed theater revenue. In the year 2015, U.S. electronic home video revenue was approximately ^$11 billion, whereas U.S. theater revenue was about ^$10 billion.^[iii] This gap is expected to widen in the next few years as U.S. electronic home video market grows to ^$17.19 billion by the year 2020. China will see the strongest growth, with a 31.3% compound annual growth to reach revenues of ^$3.11 billion in 2020.^[iv] [Discussion: debut and post premiere plans]

supply chain

Q: If I make more than one (1) purchase, will I receive multiple rewards?
A: Yes. Every perk you pay for, you'll get.
Q: To where do I turn for merchandise fulfillment?
A: Our merch supply chain is handled by CafePress. Check with them if you have any questions or concerns regarding your order.
Q: If I purchase five (10) or more shares (when available), does that mean I automatically qualify for an Underwriter's Credit as well?
A: No. They are each separate, mutually exclusive transactions not for mixing-and-matching. Purchasing $100 worth of shares (@$10/share), for example, is just that. Pledging $100 or more will have bought you the right to have your name in the end credits.
Q: Do you accept bitcoin as payment?
A: No. Even though cryptocurrencies (bitcoin, ethereum, etc.) are tech stocks in and of themselves, the hassle of brokering them on my end isn't worth the effort at this point. Please sell-off your holdings in legal negotiable tender before dealing here.
Q: Is my investment sound?
A: Yes. As required by law, transactions are audited by an independent certified public accountant (probably these guys). Now, scroll to the picture of the pretty lady with the great smile and pledge.
Q: If you insist on giving the product away (for free), then how do you expect to make money?
A: The short answer is with carrots🥕+ads. The longer answer is a little more complex. -- This will be a freemium product - its core is chargeless (libre), but premium features (eg. add-ons, versatile streaming capabilities) will be priced. Because streaming something in PP lends itself to nearly unlimited replay, there is a ton of incremental monetization value (pay as you go) in that when you consider the viewer may want to experience a scene from different angles. In addition, smart (artificially intelligent) ads will be embedded throughout. ← This methodology justifies our public disclosure of the libretto.
Q: Can I get a refund?
A: No refunds allowed. Funds are gathered and used immediately on production. A subtraction of financing could halt production (ie. equity withdrawal would be detrimental to credit), and so abrogation is not allowed. It is my duty/responsibility to make as much information and terms available to you before you make your choice so that you can do your due diligence in making the best decision (which will never result in rescindment).
Q: If the project were to disband, would my investment be returned or lost?
A: Unfortunately, your investment would not be returned in the case of this project succumbing to an unexpected event. Fortunately, everybody on-board is committed to seeing Easter through to completion; there's a lot at $take.
Q: What is the budget for this proof?
A: The budget is tight, that's what it is. Our budget is conducive to fundraising (monies raised). This number (whatever it comes to) is a ceiling; the actual amount used may well be substantially lower. Keep in mind that budgeting covers pre-production+production+post-production+marketing (from idea-to-viewing). Tax credits will also be applied wherever possible.
Q: For how long does the raise last?
A: In stages (ie. seeds in a continuum of follow-on rounds, as necessary) until enough capital is acquired to cover all costs/expenses throughout the entire production. This means that active fundraising can theoretically run into Q2 2021. At this point, we should have a product that does what it is supposed to do and will be self-sustaining.

Q: I would like to make a no-strings attached donation (ie. pledge without a perk) to this proof. How do I do this?
A: Thank you. Your gift is appreciated. Please use the DONATE button here [PayPal]. // Personal information is used to process payment. The transaction is SECURE🔒. //

🐷donate

Gifts support lnq and this stream, but are not expected.
Tips are non-refundable. //paypal/lnq
Not 501(c)/tax-deductible.

Note (+): This is not a charitable transaction. You are contributing to a commercial venture, albeit for public benefit. Do not expect your contribution to be or become tax deductible.

In addition, you may also transfer your stocks/securities. Your broker should inbox me below via the hashtag: #FinanceEaster with professional contact information (ie. phone number, @business e-mail address), or reach out on LinkedIn. Note that the fair market value of the security gifted is calculated as its worth on the day of entry (ie. date-of-transfer). It is imperative to have your broker submit the following information:
- CUSIP of the stock (Name+Count)
- DTC Number of the institution sending the stock
Q: May I use more than one payment processor?
A: Yes, that is possible. Donations are processed using PayPal, and debits (donation and/or purchase) use Cash App (for as long as that statement is valid and applicable, otherwise and elsewhere, said account deals in different matters). If you were to make a transaction using one of each, it could register as a 'donation' and a 'debit' (check your receipt). You should not expect to be refunded for a 'donation'.[This note will remain here for purposes of posterity.]

//tech

technical development
discussion of technologies found within

Q: Are you shipping a (tangible) hardware product/device as a result of this work?
A: No. The embed and all specs will be released as a bundle for DIY/opensource/openscience. Ideally, we want something that is neither unavailable for recall or unobtrusive to regulation.
Q: Will this proof support 3D printing (additive manufacturing) of drugs?
A: Because DIY biology spans at-home production, that notion is a possibility (it would take some pioneering, but would/will be really cool though, right?). Our focus is on solutions being made widely available to foundries (@scale) before supporting personal trays.

Q: What is the update frequency/cycle?
A: Daily.
Q: How knowledgeable are you about protein science?
A: I'm not a professional scientist (nor do I try to pass myself off as such; the term researcher is preferred) but I can hold my own with the them when you factor in that my craft of juking is cross-pollinating, essentially a soft application of string theory. It helps my case that I am favorably ranked on the citizen science games: Foldit, EterRNA, Mozak, and Eyewire. Having been a professional since 1997, I've written lots of mathematics (+also dabbled in chemical engineering), so I can be a valuable contributor; protein folding involves calculations of random walks, and what we are building is a computational model of that theory.
Q: Should I expect an over-the-counter drug upon completion?
A:

This proof will just create and support a computer program [/algorithm] for mathmod (ie. holography) and simulating molecular dynamics. The stack will be freely available for foundries (ie. biopharma companies, DIY biology, and wet labs alike) to exploit upon its release. Easter is not a pharmaceutical, nor is it facilitating such material. We are not making medicines (ie. clinical diagnostic*, gene therapies, medical device, etc.) or a prescription product, mixing chemicals on any tangible level, complicit with illegal paraphernalia, or partaking human (or animal) trials; there is nothing for the FDA to regulate. This exercise is a numerical analysis that hopefully can yield structural formulae ['sf'] to be used to assist in rational drug design [pharmacology] as 'pre-clinical' proof-of-concept, at best.We may be (tangentially) involved in ongoing clinical studies performed by third-parties.

Q: Since this is opensource, what is its licensure?
A: Licensed under the UUelcome License [copyleft]. Certain movable parts (underlying softwares, etc.) may be subject to GNU and/or MIT, Creative Commons licensure, or just straight public domain.
Q: Has this proof been integrated into the Open Source Initiative?
A: No. The opera shall remain independent at my discretion. If and when the OSI approves of the UUelcome License as being OSD/OSI-conformant, then I accept (as should everyone) its authority as organized.
Q: Why get involved in something like this, are you trying to save the world??
A: Saving the world really isn't my thing (do they even make phone booths 🦸 anymore?). Just people helping people. I'd like to place emphasis on this not being some sort of altruistic proof. I'm an egomaniac and tend to work on stuff that only helps grow my legend. At my core, I'm a technical problem solver; a puzzler by trade, working to get paid (the drug game can be very lucrative). Lucky for us, I really enjoy this stuff (plus, it sparks my personal interest in DIY biology). Usually, others come to me ('Mr. Fix-it') when they're stuck or they've lost all hope in their efforts, which seems to be the case with this particular proof. MJFF put forth a reasonable challenge with a prize bounty💰 at a nice carrot🥕. Again, though, this is for public benefit, and I'm proud of that.
Q: ... and no one's done anything like this before?
A:

Doubtful. If something like this had been on the market already, we would have known about it. I'm sure people have wanted to do something like this, but there's a big difference between ideation and delivery. As was already stated, there are labs at universities that are attempting to do distributed computing at scale on macromolecular computation [molecular visualization], but their approach is drastically different from what is being accomplished here. For starters, they/we are calculating different physics (ie. the physics engine used to run those programs is not compensating for twistorspaces and/or animation modifiers), and none of them are using crowdsourced data to train ai on machine learning; only for direct responses. Lastly, we're running our distribution on mobile devices, as opposed to workstations.
Q:What's the difference between UUe.i and other major molecular dynamic initiatives?
A: There are some minor differences, but they matter. Again, each piece of software is tackling separate physics. UUe.i is the first-to-market molecular dynamics software that incorporates deep learning (genetic) algorithms. Also, UUe.i is widely opensource, almost completely so (to the point where it must not stop running). The api is available to be fiddled with at any time. Lastly, the softwares have different licenses. Most 'opensource' stuff out there today is licensed through MIT or GPL. UUe.i, UUe, and Egglepple rely on the UUelcome License.
Q:What is the input lag measurement?
A: < 30ms
Q:What is the refresh rate?
A: 60fps in 1080p

miscellany

Q: Where can I learn more about methods and methodologies of urban agriculture?
A: {As a point-of-reference, a minor thread in the storyline is that some of the citizens have opted to grow and eat their own food supply at the expense of public grocers, which is rather odd because that activity is usually reserved for country-side farmers, not city dwellers.} Just use Google/Bing and watch videos about the topic online (eg. YouTube), for starters. I got a taste of 'urban farming' by getting my hands dirty at Garden City Harvest in Missoula, Montana. I recommend a book by Will Allen called, The Good Food Revolution (ISBN-13: 978-1592407606), which helped sharpen my understanding for composing portions of this opera. Basically, my education on the topic came from reading literature, watching videos, and working on sites, and yours can, too.

Q: Where can I buy some Brown Hue rum?
A: {As a point-of-reference, Pascha's character is a drunk, and his favorite beverage is Brown Hue. If you'll notice, these are the last and first names of Hubert Brown, the person on whose autobiography the opera's prelude is based.} It's not for sale. And if it is on sale, it's not being sold by me. The spirit was created just for the first chord of the arc, and is a fictional brand. That said, you can make yourself some by following the instructions. (Drink responsibly.🥃)

backend questions

Q: Are there plans to shift over to the Microsoft Hololens platform?
A: I haven't even examined the MH api/sdk, to be honest. My guess is if someone wanted to incorporate their own solo tinkering regarding that, we'd take a look, but right now our sights are set on mobile smartphones and not all-in-one devices. I see a tremendous amount of potential there, though.

Q: When can I use the ai?
A: It will be done when it's done.
C: I would like to report a bug or make a request.
A: Go here. Thanks.
Q: What is/are deepfakes?
A: DeepFace Lab (see also 📓How I got Bruce Willis to be in my movie, for free)
Q: Why not use multiple service providers for big computing?
A: The short answer is because since they all do the same thing at roughly the same cost, and each offer enough bandwidth to cover all of our compute needs, it's easier to stick with one (1) vendor (in this case, Google). GCP - even though it is behind in marketshare - has undoubtedly the best services at scale. Think about it, Google (which is responsible for 25% of all Internet traffic^[i]) serves GMail, AdWords, the search engine, and other apps (eg. YouTube and Apple's iCloud services^[z]) to billions of people at trillions of instances every day. No other provider can claim to scale those kinds of numbers at this time. Also, since engineering is of the essence here, the 2Gbps/CPU (superior to the market leader) throughput matters. .. Alright, fine! The Microsoft cloud [Azure, Github] may be used for certain services, as well (it's really robust).
Q: Why is computing necessary to solve this problem?
A: Assuming that the mathematics works, then you would have to model the molecular processes (all stochastic = computationally complex) in computational time. The best, most sensible way to go about completing things like floating-point arithmetic and Lambda calculus is with a computer supplementing human strategies.
Q:Define distributed supercomputing.
A: Supercomputing is more of a notion than anything. It implies that there are hard limits on normal (single processor) computing needs, as would be the case on usual personal computers. To compensate, technicians typically expand the capabilities of the machines to include more processing power, storage management, and so forth. The 'distributed' part implies that the information loads of a single machine can be partitioned and/or conjoined in a network to handle the compute. Putting it all together, a distributed supercomputer is a multinodal system with no theoretical hard compute limits. The keyword behind distributed computing is cost efficiency.
Q:Why build and use a distributed computer versus a scalable datacenter?
A: The evolution of computing follows the choices and behavior of the people that use it. The world is going mobile and small these days, and so, having a large server farm (ie. cloud hub) for instance, is impractical for getting everyone to instinctively commit some data or processing power at some ration at any given time. Storage warehouses - like datacenters, have to be built from the ground up, maintained (climate control, facility security, etc.), and periodically updated. That is a neat exercise in information technology, but really expensive and impractical if you have to monitor the minutiae of moving parts.

We must presume that everyone's situation and computing configuration is different, and respond to that. What would end up happening is that the huge datacenters themselves just become nodes on the grid, anyhow (albeit, very potent ones); contributing - just like you - to the eventuality of UUe.i becoming the largest and most powerful supercomputer in the world.
Q:Why base the servers in Montana?
A: A good reason is because of the state's relatively low cost of electricity; average power consumption bills for residential, commercial, and industrial customers are perennially ranked in the bottom tier. Another good reason is because I reside there.
Q:What is a protein?
A: The long-short is that a protein is a biomechanical machine (yes, a real machine!) whose function is to work within a cell. The molecule is encoded from a set number of chemical elements called amino acids that give it instruction(s) as to how to perform its function. There's a quality in-depth wiki article (math/sci/music = fair) about this.

Q:How accurate is juking?
A: Pretty accurate. We always assume in juking that P = BQP, so there is the stochastic element built-in. We rely on string theory (a theory), and as more and more of its predictions become validated, so will our results. Juking tests for twistorspaces, which is key to making strings fold/animate quickly. The stronger our understanding of the math is, the tighter our error coding will be. Juking is the surest way to go about doing that.
Q:How/Why did you start juking?
A: I started with 🧩puzzle design and kids stuff like yarn play back in the early 1990s. In the late 1990s, I read an expository book on string theory, took a stab at solving (various elements of) it, and ended up with the EGP keynote. Organically, the math brought me to create UUe. Now it all fits together.
Q:Location of project's protocol stack?
A: #Easteropera [archive]
Q:Where are your peer-reviewed publications?
A:I self-publish under UUhistlegrass (journal formerly known as UUelcome Editions). ISSN: 2165 - 6738.
Q:What are your ultimate goals with UUe/UUe.i?
A: Double U economics.
Q:I have privacy and/or security concerns.
A: In an effort to assuage your concerns, just know that the embed is NOT keeping tabs on your browsing history or online behaviors beyond what is necessary to run the software (you can review the source code if you wish). The only thing it is designed to do is let jukers play, and report those call functions back to the server (jukebox). Nor is it collecting personal information. As far as it being installed on your system (running in the background at low priority), this is a secure🔐 process that won't expose itself to other hubbed data without your permission.

Measures are being taken so that installs from uuelco.me (or the final domain/mirror) will not be harmful to or jeopardize the integrity of your machine or the network. We expect to solicit independent audits from industry-standard compliance and operation (eg. SSAE, ISO 27001) organizations at some point.

🧑🏿/#Easteropera mixtape #1 - Eden's Cobby

🧑🏿/Easter™